Deceit
by Mireilles3
Summary: How far would Vader go to secure his son at his side? And how could it possibly end after such deceit? L/V/etc. Drama, angst, hurt/comfort, family, etc. Please, R and R!
1. Chapter 1

Deceit

By Mireille

2000/2012

* * *

How far would Vader go to secure his son at his side? And how could it possibly end after such deceit?

* * *

Good afternoon everyone!

Here is the fourth of eleven stories that I feel like writing, but can't decide which to work on first. Can you help me figure out that answer?

The story with the most readers and reviews will be my next project in the works. Since it can take a few parts before we finally get to the crux of some stories, I won't check the final tally right from the start. However, only the total of both reviews and lasting readers will determine which story I'm going to work on first, so, if you like this one, leave a review to vote for it :D

Thanks for your help! Hope you enjoy this story as well!

If you do, please, share your thoughts :)

* * *

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.

* * *

Luke Skywalker looked around himself, wondering what could possibly make him feel uneasy this time.

After all, it wasn't his first visit in the catacombs of Ryloth, and now that he had made into a very narrow tunnel, there was nowhere to be trapped by bounty hunters or imperials. Yet he wasn't as comfortable as usual. Warier than usual, he kept his lightsaber handy while he slowly made his way toward his rendezvous point.

A twi-lek rebel contact had sent a message that required his presence, and his presence only as, apparently, only he could help them with the situation.

Luke took a deep breath. He was a Jedi - well, not quite but almost. He could do this.

He came up in the small meeting chamber where, as per agreement, Tik was waiting for him. The Twi-lek was equally alone and his senses were not buzzing like those of people who had had ulterior motives in his regards.

"Luke, I'm glad you could make it," the Twi'lek welcomed him, stepping out of the shadows after the youth had walked within the light that shone at the center of the secret meeting room.

"What's wrong, Tik?" He inquired as he shook the other's hand in greeting.

"The Empire is mining ore from the planet yet again, but unlike what they lead us to believe, it isn't berubium or even ryll. It's cortosis."

"I see... You think that they're preparing something to fight against a Jedi?"

"Or to hold one, yes. Speaking of Jedi," the Twi-lek added – and, to Luke's bafflement, produced a lightsaber from his clothes! "I found this in amongst the crates that we were loading aboard an imperial cargo ship. I think you're not alone out there, Luke."

He handed him the lightsaber; Luke couldn't take his eyes off it.

"Is there a Jedi hiding here? On Ryloth?"

"How would I know?" the other shrugged. "I understand that the survivors of the purges are very good at hiding from everyone."

"Hmm, yeah, I see what you mean," the youth commented thoughtfully while he studied the weapon's design. Unlike his plainer handle, this blade was beautifully crafted as well as well-worn. It had obviously seen a lot of action, but had also been built in the time when the Jedi were not outlaws. He focused his attention back on his companion. "Okay, I'll pass the word about the cortosis, Tik. Keep your eyes open for anything strange and keep me informed, okay? In the meantime, I'll try and locate this other Jedi."

The Force was with him, he thought hopefully; he wasn't alone anymore.

"Okay, good luck, Luke."

"You, too. May the Force be With You."

The two young fighters left the small chamber from two different access tunnels, careful to remain as silent as when they had arrived in case the tunnels carried their noise all the way to the more crowded areas.

* * *

On his way back, Luke thought back on the meeting and reflected that, for once, it had gone well. Perhaps he was just getting edgy because of his lack of sleep and constant running into traps laid by bounty hunters. Yet, he couldn't live in fear forever. Furthermore, as a Jedi, he had to quell his fears, and as a rebel, he would not allow the Empire to win this easily.

Still, ever since Bespin, he hadn't slept well once, nor had he felt safe anywhere.

He looked yet again at the lightsaber that he still held in his hand. Could there really be another Jedi alive beside Yoda? And how could his master not know-

Strong arms suddenly wrapped themselves around him, effectively pinning his arms to his sides and in an unescapable grip. Luke yelped in surprise and instantly struggled against the vise-like hold that had appeared out of nowhere. He then felt himself pulled tightly against the other; a chest plate and a renewed rumbling breath told him everything that he needed to know.

Vader.

No.

He thumbed on the unfamiliar lightsaber - but instead of producing a blade like it should, a dart shot out of the lower end of handle and buried itself in his stomach. Panicked, he tried to find his focus to fight against the drug, but to his horror, he was blocked away from the Force.

His senses quickly eluded him afterward and he could only moan in dread as he felt himself fall limp in the Sith's unyielding arms.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vader turned around his already-faltering son and threw him over his left shoulder before he made his way back the way he'd come, careful to retrieve the tricked saber that he had purposefully hidden in a place that would still attract rebel attention.

Finally! He had recovered his child!

About ten minutes later, he reached the cave where he had hidden his non-descript shuttle. He quickly boarded it and secured his captive in the co-pilot seat before sitting down behind the controls.

Two minutes later and he was taking off, taking his precious prisoner with him.

* * *

Well? How was that?

If you want more, you know what to do:) And if you don't want more because of bad characterizations, lack of detail, or anything that could help me improve this story into a more edible read, I'd still like to know why (via private messaging if you prefer). However, if you simply don't like _this kind_ of story, then don't worry. To each our own :)

Have a great week-end everyone, and remember, reviews are very precious gifts all year long Moreover, this time, they might make me work on this story first for the next year or so ;P So? Will you vote for it? I hope so!


	2. Chapter 2

Deceit

By Mireille

2000/2012

How far would Vader go to secure his son at his side? And how could it possibly end after such deceit?

* * *

Good afternoon everyone!

Here is the second part of the fourth of eleven stories that I feel like writing, but can't decide which to work on first. Can you help me figure out that answer?

Remember? The story with the most readers and reviews will be my next project in the works. So, if you like this one, leave a review to vote for it :D

Thanks for your help! Hope you enjoy this story as well!

If you do, please, share your thoughts

* * *

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.

* * *

Part 2: Luke, meet...

Now that he had secured his son, Vader quickly headed for his castle on Vjun. He only had five days left before his scheduled report to his master, a report that the ruler expected to receive from his receiver located on the Executor.

It would be a tight fit for everything he had to do before returning to Executor.

Indeed, only five days to implement his plan and prepare 'Luke' was as tight a schedule as he had prepared for while still accomplishing 'everything' he wanted to. Yet, for all the required speed of each step of his plan, he also had to be extremely careful at all times so that his actions remained unknown and unsuspected by the cunning Sith master.

After all, while his first and primary goal was to capture his son and finally meet him properly - and hopefully join forces with him as Father and Son - his second but no less important goal was to make Luke vanish without anyone noticing. While it would be easy to achieve this as far as the Rebellion was concerned, the Emperor was another matter altogether; Vader had to be extra-careful not to betray himself through either his thoughts or his emotions, two innocuous sources of information that Palpatine loved to use against him.

It had taken a long while for the ex-Anakin Skywalker to figure out the truth, but he was now all-too-aware that Palpatine had used his love for Padme to turn him into Vader and against his beloved wife; he was therefore adamant that his love for his son would not be turned against either him or Luke in any way.

He had been working on his plan for the past three years - ever since he had discovered Luke's existence - and throughout those long and frustrating years, he had always made sure to tuck his secret so far into his mind and out of his heart that the Emperor had never suspected the existence of the project that had been taking form on Vjun. Vader had also made sure to throw his master off any possible lead by serving him as best as he could, treating the captured enemies with vicious prejudice while relentlessly chasing the remaining ones.

And now, a few months after his first duel with his son, he could finally bring his project to reality.

Fortunately, he was still stronger than his son, thus able to keep him under for the whole trip home. That way, Luke was one source of problems he could at least eliminate from his list of potential trouble that could ruin his plan.

That only left about a dozen or so that he could only hope would not occur, for his son's sake.

Indeed, although the boy would not easily accept the truth of his predicament, he was still safer with him than exposed to the bounty hunters, imperial spies, assassins and Force-knew-what that was out there, looking for him. It would simply be up to Vader to convince the boy of that so that he would not attempt to escape and leave his protection.

'As if 'that' would go well,' Vader mused in foreknowledge, remembering how stubborn the youth had been the last time that he had been in his custody.

He flew onward, pondering yet again how he should proceed with the boy to avoid riling him up.

The answers did not come easily to him.

* * *

Five hours later, he reached his destination. There, he gently picked up the boy in his arms and made a beeline for the secret laboratory that he had set up the moment that he had discovered his son's existence.

Deep in the previously-undeveloped underground of his private estate, even further below the surface than the specialized holding cells that formed the last 'official' underground level of the castle/fortress, he had installed a cloning laboratory where a simple hair found in Luke's cell after his escape from Balti had become the cornerstone of Vader's new daring plan.

However, if cloning the boy had been a simple if time-consuming operation in order to create stable specimens - all of them meant for tests except one - developing the necessary technology for the other part of his plan had been easier said than done.

It had then been twice as challenging to hire the necessary resources without attracting anyone's attention. After all, the specialists he had required for his project had been rare enough that their disappearance would be instantly noticed. However, his betting on younger and inexperienced specialists had paid off. Thus, what they had lacked in expertise that was acquired from concrete applications of their knowledge, they more than made up with their creativity and daringness.

The young engineers had also been more than eager to benefit from the opportunity that had been presented to them, aware that their success would be rewarded with a lightning fast rise straight to the top.

In short, they had proven to be as talented as their older colleagues, perhaps even more so.

The last tests had been positive, even with the official, specially-prepared copy, and they hadn't damaged their subjects in any way.

And now, he reflected as he stepped into the small laboratory station, it was time for the ultimate test. His medical droid was already standing by to monitor his patients while one of the engineers was fine-tuning the settings of the transferring machine.

The second engineer, for his part, was dutifully running a checklist on the rest of the machine.

Stepping up to the remaining chair, Vader gently lowered his still unconscious son in it and sat him straight while he used the Force to lock his wrists, ankles and chest to the chair. He then fastened a probe inside the open collar of Luke's shirt and against the boy's chest before he motioned to the engineer to proceed with the rest of the preparations.

He watched in both impatience and wariness as the medical engineer placed probe-like devices on Luke's forehead and around his neck, just where his hair began at the nape of his neck.

"Is the clone ready?" he asked the young man when he withdrew from his boy's slumped figure.

"Yes, my Lord. We can begin immediately."

"Then begin."

* * *

The machine around Luke gradually hummed to life, the omminous sound eventually becoming loud enough to pull the Jedi out of his torpor.

Luke reflexively jerked in fear and against his restraints as the last events rushed back to his mind.

Vader!

He opened his eyes, only to find himself locked to a seat that was set into some kind of tubule or devilish-looking machine.

He struggled yet again to escape, using both his physical strength and his fledgling Jedi abilities, but the Jedi-proof bonds resisted both attempts. Then he couldn't strain anymore, could only stiffen and scream as the mind-reading technology began pulling his memories out of his mind and into his clone.

His only relief in regards to this agonizing new torment was that his memories weren't erased but, he Felt, merely downloaded.

He still howled in torment for as long as the procedure lasted.

* * *

Vader carefully monitored his son's health even as he attentively watched the data as it scrolled down the screen.

Everything that his son was, knew, and remembered was being downloaded and transferred into his copy. From Luke's childhood and teenagehood on harsh Tatooine, to his friends, his missions as a rebel, his kindness, his sense of humour, his Jedi training, his grief, their duel on Bespin... his hopes to find his father...

Although he couldn't decipher the codes that scrolled down the monitoring screen, he Knew that everything was there. The computer's map of Luke's brain had not revealed any missing part.

It was perfect.

It was only a shame that such data could only be transferred from one brain to another or else he would have made a copy of this information for himself so as to 'know' his own son a little better.

Then, of course, there would be all the possible military and intelligence applications for such a device if it could ever translate the brain waves and assigned codes into reading material. However, while the young engineers believed that it could be done, Vader had not pushed them in that direction, aware that revealing the existence of such a device would be a clue that he couldn't afford to give to his master in regards to his personal plans.

Hence, while he would richly reward his young protégés and put them in positions that would satisfy them, he would also erase their knowledge of his secret project. He had already set up their cover stories so that nobody would question where they had disappeared after their graduation.

Since Lord Vader supervised several secret projects that the Emperor 'did' know about even though he wasn't supposed to, it had been easy to register them on one such project. He had then doctored the visual and written records to include the two youths. Finally, during his last visit to the chosen project, he had implanted memories of the boys into the minds of their alleged colleagues.

Now, all that he had left to do was alter the boys' memories and send them on their way to their new and prestigious lives, allowing them to reap the vast rewards of working on one of Lord Vader's secret projects.

For now, though, he focused all his attention on his unfortunately-tormented boy while the operation proceeded as expected.

* * *

The new type of torture lasted for about two hours before the machine came to a stop, when it couldn't find anything new in the Jedi's cerebral pathways. When the machine finally hummed down to its stanby mode; both youths were slumped in their restraints, mentally and physically exhausted.

Concerned even though his son's medical readings had not approached the critical stages in any way, Vader went straight to his son's chair and swiftly removed the probes that were attached to him. The dark lord then gently took hold of Luke's chin and raised his head so that Luke could look at him. He wilted inside at the sight of his son yet again drenched in sweat and half-consciously expressing pain.

'That was the last time, I promise, Son,' he thought but didn't say out loud in case his secret made it out of the room. "Luke, open your eyes," he told him as kindly as he could manage despite his vocoder.

Although the more awake he would be, the more painful his son's headache would grow, Vader still wanted him to know the exact situation he was in so that he understood how useless trying to escape would be.

* * *

Luke wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, or even pass out into coma... He didn't really care which one would claim him, as long as he wasn't conscious.

*The faster you'll wake up, the faster I'll let you rest," Vader sent him, along with a jolt of adrenaline in his system.

Luke's eyes suddenly snapped open and he gasped in surprise at the electric-like sensation that had just forced him awake. He focused his eyes and instantly locked them on the dreaded dark silhouette.

He groaned in annoyance - the most he could do right now - and looked up at the ominous presence of his captor.

Then, a detail caught his eye and he stopped on the all-too-familiar face that was gazing straight ahead. What the..? How could he be in two places at the same time?..

He tested his restraints as much as he could, confirming to his woozy brain that he couldn't be standing beside Vader because he was securely held down.

"Luke, this is Luuke Skywalker, the Jedi and rebel hero that you used to be."

"No..." Luke whispered as he understood what the Sith's plan was this time.

"He is your clone, but more importantly, he is your 'exact' copy down to your pattern of thought and your most intimate memories."

Luke noticed the faint scars on the clone's face as well as the other distinctive marks that he himself bore from his different adventures.

"He will effortlessly take your place in your former life. He is everything you are, and more if need be."

*If he's me," Luke Sent angrily, aware that he had no voice left after his screaming. *Why doesn't he attack you like I want to?* He strained against his restraints to make his point.

"He's under my control for now, and you are finally in my custody. However, no one will even suspect that you are missing."

His frustration, fuelled by his awful headache, took the best of him and the Jedi pulled harder than ever against his restraints. He only managed to practically sprain his left shoulder and yelped at the painful sensation.

"The clone will not even remember you, but I wanted you to meet him before he picks up your life where you left it."

*How magnanimous of you, 'Dad'" Luke returned in irritation.

"I wish it had been otherwise, but for now, this will have to suffice. We will discuss at length once we're aboard Executor."

"Wish away," Luke grated out, almost inaudibly, and then his senses eluded him once again after the med droid injected a soporific in his neck.

* * *

Vader then turned toward the two other men present and watched silently while they finished their packing.

Then, once the engineers were ready and picked up their luggage, Vader freed his rebellious son and hoisted him up on his shoulders. He then ordered everyone to follow him and they left Vjun with all possible haste.

He had no time to waste.

His first order of business was to return his son's copy exactly where he had found the real boy.

Once the clone was set up, Vader brought his shuttle out of his range and finally released him from his control.

As expected, Luuke assumed that he had momentarily slipped into a trance he wasn't familiar with and resumed his actions where he had left them. Even his astromech droid, whom the Sith had reprogrammed before withdrawing, didn't see any problems with the situation.

Satisfied that nothing would be amiss with the rebels and his son's alleged life with them, he flew toward his next destination.

However, before he delivered the engineers to their next transport, from Naboo, he overcame them with the Force and easily wiped their memories clear of anything even remotely related to his pet project. He also replaced those by knowledge and facts that they should have cumulated during their time working on the official project they would now be related to.

Finally, he ensured that not even a probe from Palpatine himself would reveal the mind manipulation. Then, at long last, he also released them from his secret service.

With only one day left to rejoin the Executor, which was currently orbiting Omwat while its crew was on rotating leave, Vader dropped the youths off on Naboo where neither the appearance of an imperial shuttle nor the youths' need for transportation to Kuat would attract undue attention. It was simply standard procedure for imperial workers to transit from secret locations to mundane ones through such ports.

Then, once he was alone with the still unconscious young Jedi, he made three jumps in different directions, so as to cover any remaining tracks of his whereabouts, before he finally checked in with Executor to confirm that she was still waiting for him where he had left her.

* * *

When Luke awoke, he felt as if he was about to tumble down from whatever he was laid on and reflexively extended his hands to the sides to stabilize himself. He then groaned in complaint as he realized how dizzy he was - almost to the point of being nauseous.

He also had a Sith of a headache.

And thinking of Sith…

What had he done to him while he was 'sleeping'?

Gingerly, wincing with each incremental increase of light filtering through his still-dilated pupils, he forced himself to open his eyes until he could see around himself.

It was still too fast for him and he brought his hands to his face in an attempt to diminish the level of light that he had to endure.

That's when he became aware that his left wrist was surrounded by something sturdy that wasn't normally there. Startled, and more than a little worried, he forgot his troublesome eyesight for a moment and looked at the concerned wrist.

What he saw made him jerk up to a sitting position- and almost fall right back on the mattress when his headache grew to such levels that he almost passed out once again.

"Owww," he moaned, his previous concern forgotten in light of his current and much more demanding physical misery.

Feeling his nausea worsening by the second, he took deep breaths to soothe his pain and stomach. He was just too aware that he would never make it anywhere before he threw up and, personally, he didn't feel like doing it where it would remain within the range of his various senses for Force knew how long.

He felt bad enough as it was.

Unhurriedly, gradually, the agony receded to more bearable levels, as did his nausea and dizziness. Eventually, he could consider raising his head from his hands without expecting too much consequence.

Still, he was careful to move slowly into a straighter sitting position, keeping his right fingers pressed against his right temple to alleviate the worst of the pain when it increased by a notch yet again.

Then, and only then, he was able to study the silver brace that was locked around his left wrist. In a way, it reminded him of a cuff, but at the same time, its finish was too elegant – gleaming and reminding him of silver – and large, too.

Jewelry, then? He wondered, baffled. He reflexively shook his head – and his body cruelly reminded him to hold still for a longer while.

Gritting his teeth against the worsening torment, Luke closed his eyes and took deep breaths to soothe himself as best as he could.

He also reflexively called on the Force to help himself, adding more to his pain instead of relieving it.

He groaned again, this time in annoyance and tiredness, and slowly laid back down on the bed – he had seen at least that much already.

Whatever Vader had done to him this time, he had not locked him in a cold and uncomfortable cell. Instead, he seemed to be in a room of some kind.

Luke couldn't decide if that was a good or a bad turn of events. After all, if he were locked in a cell and waiting to be tortured, he would at least know what to expect and who he was dealing with: Vader the monster. Now, though, he didn't know 'who' to expect. It appeared that his father did not want to torture him again – though his previous treatment testified otherwise – but he undoubtedly still wanted his son at his side or else he wouldn't have gone to the trouble of cloning him to hide his capture from everyone.

So, he pondered next, what did his unusual circumstances meant? Vader was obviously trying to play the father card with him, but it wouldn't work, he promised himself. He would not fall for his subtle – and not-so-subtle – attempts to convert him. He would not. Period.

Still feeling more than a little tired and dazed, the young Jedi kept his eyes closed and focused on recovering from his latest torment.

A while later, after the refreshing Light of the Force had finally dissolved every twinge of pain that had inhabited his skull, he opened his eyes again and turned his head toward the other wall – the one he hadn't caught a glimpse of during his first attempt to sit up.

He closed his eyes again, this time in discouragement. He was in space, which meant that he was already aboard the Executor.

He couldn't be anywhere else since his father wanted to keep him close at hand 'and' hidden from everyone.

Drawn despite himself by the sight of hyperspace, he reopened his eyes and stared at the mesmerizing bluish-white trademark distortions.

He had a 'really' bad feeling about all this.

After all, if he truly were aboard Executor, then he might as well be dead to everyone else. The super star destroyer was a floating fortress and, unless it was used to set a trap, its clearance codes were changed too often for the rebels to even attempt infiltrating her crew.

In fact, it was easier for them to spy and gather information about the behemoth through a navy office than through any direct means. Hence, they would never be able to reach him, nor would they even think about mounting a rescue if the clone failed to convince them that it was he.

The clone…

Surely, he couldn't be as perfect a copy as Vader claimed. Surely, he would betray himself somehow and his friends would understand Vader's latest ploy.

It had to happen, he prayed the Force. Otherwise, everything was truly lost…

And what had Vader meant that it could be 'more' than a mere copy if need be? Was he using the clone to infiltrate and destroy the Alliance?

Force, he had to get back to them and warn them!

He pushed himself up and off the bed and began searching for a way out.

He spotted the opening in the wall against which the bed was set and rushed toward the obvious entrance and whatever was beyond.

He had barely stepped within the vestibule that separated the true outer door from the rest of the room that the brace wrapped around his left wrist painfully shocked him with a stun ray.

He collapsed on the spot, instantly knocked out cold.

* * *

On the bridge of Executor, Darth Vader went through the motions and postures of overseeing the deployment of the fleet.

As was custom upon his returns aboard the Executor, he had first conferred with Admiral Piett and his generals for a complete report on the situation onboard and throughout the fleet.

Through it all, though, he had simply been burning to dismiss them and return at his son's side, and especially since he had felt the boy awaken from his long nap.

After waiting for five days to talk with him in a way that would not be painful for the boy, he couldn't wait to return to Luke's quarters. However, now that all the pieces were finally in place for the real work to begin, he knew better than to risk his master plan. As a result of his newfound patience, he stayed where he was, not changing his routine in any way that would arouse suspicion.

Still, whereas his long days and late-nights had never bothered him before, they now became an obstacle that he was hard-pressed not to eliminate the way he always did anything that stood in his way. For Luke's sake, though, he restrained and controlled himself. Oh, he 'would' change his routine; that much was clear. However, he would have to do so in a way that would not look suspicious, not even to his ever-watchful master.

Besides, he tempered himself further, he also had to establish a better relationship with Luke, and one way of doing so would be to give the boy his space, especially since the child had been forced into this new life in the first place.

He also owed him a huge apology regarding their worse than worst start as Father and Son.

Force, he whined inwardly, they had 'so much' to talk about, and they had wasted so much time already in pointless confrontations.

Still, he knew better than to be impulsive this time; on Mustafar, and recently on Bespin, he had learnt the high cost of his brashness and he had vowed that there would not be a third time. He would never, ever risk the lives of his loved-ones just because he had lost control of his impulses.

Thus it was only several hours later - too many hours as far as he was concerned - that he finally returned in his son's room. He had felt the boy's awareness – as well as his attempt to escape that had been stopped by his Jedi-proof cuff. Since then, the boy had seemed melancholy and beaten, but also annoyed and angry from time to time.

And now, it was time to physically face him.

* * *

Well? How was that?

If you want more, you know what to do:) And if you don't want more because of bad characterizations, lack of detail, or anything that could help me improve this story into a more edible read, I'd still like to know why (via private messaging if you prefer). However, if you simply don't like _this kind_ of story, then don't worry. To each our own :)

Have a great week-end everyone, and remember, reviews are very precious gifts all year long! Moreover, this time, they might make me work on this story first for the next year or so ;P So? Will you vote for it? I hope so!


	3. Chapter 3

Deceit

By Mireille

2012-02-12

* * *

Previously: After capturing Luke, Vader transferred all of his knowledge and personality into a clone of Luke, which he then sent back to the rebellion while he secretly brought his real son aboard the Executor. After Luke recovers from his unusual torture, he wakes up in quarters from which he can't escape. Meanwhile, Vader patiently waits for the moment to return to Luke's cell without deviating from his usual schedule and habits.

* * *

Good evening everyone :)

First of all, thanks to everyone who commented the first posts and/or voted for this story. I'm glad you enjoy it this much already and I hope that your fun will continue with the next part :)

Here is the third part of the fourth of eleven stories that I feel like writing, but can't decide which to work on first. Can you help me figure out that answer?

Important! After the fourth part, I will close the first round of the poll and focus/update only the winning story for the next year or so... The other stories will remain available but incomplete until I have finished the winner of your collective choice :)

Said winner will be the story with the most returning readers, reviews and/or alerts and comments through PMs. So, if you like this one, or if this new chapter suddenly makes this story the most interesting of the list, leave a review to vote for it as a whole :) You can also vote more than once for your favorite using PMs ;P

As of today, the vote is heading in the following direction :

1 - Unexpected (478 points)

2- Incarnations (295 points)

3 - The balance of the Force and Deceit are ex aequo (222 points)

In fifth and sixth positions are An Unfortunate Blessing and It is Useless to Resist.

If you want to try and change the direction of the vote after reading this new part, you know what to do :)

Thanks for your help! Hope you enjoy this new post as well!

If you do, please, share your thoughts :D

* * *

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.

* * *

Part 3: The first days

Late in the first day of his son's new life, the Dark Lord of the Sith finally entered the boy's room. Just like he had expected and felt through the Force, the youth was sitting in the right curve of the large sill of his transparisteel bay window, his blue eyes gazing longingly at the stars that once again shone individually now that the ship was back in normal space.

Vader was also aware that he only had one other chance to connect with his resentful son. He vowed not to waste it in yet another loss of self-control like he had on Bespin.

"How's your headache?" he asked solicitously while he sat on the bed, far enough from the boy to not intimidate him, yet close enough to physically shorten the distance between them.

The young Jedi slowly turned his head toward him and his defiant blue eyes threw daggers of resent at him before he silently turned away once again.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Luke, but you didn't give me much of a choice. I tried to give you the possibility to make a free choice and you turned me down."

"And I am _still_ not interested," the child answered calmly without gazing back at him. "Now leave me alone."

"I can't do that anymore, Luke," Vader slowly shook his helmeted head. "For your safety, and for us as a family, you are here to stay."

"Dream away," Luke answered, his resentment loud and clear in both his voice and Force presence.

It was not going well, Vader reflected while he tried to figure out how he could change his son's disposition. "I'm sorry that we met the way we did, Son-"

To his relief, Luke did react to that statement, but it quickly dawned on the Sith Lord that his son's reaction was still not like he had expected. "Don't call me that," the boy glared with animosity. "Don't you ever dare call me that! You took my real father away from me and I will never be Vader's son."

Father and son gazed/glared at each other for portent seconds before Vader conceded the point and nodded, acquiescent.

"I made several mistakes in my life, the worst one being to forget what truly mattered to me when it was the most at risk. I'm sorry that you suffered because of-"

"_Suffer_, _Father_," Luke corrected acidly. "As in the present and still happening."

Vader shook his head in answer. "No, I will never hurt you again, Son, I give you my word."

"Physically you mean, but as long as I'll be with you, I will still hurt in every other possible way. You are the bane of my life; you will never do anything _but_ hurt me with your mere presence nearby."

His son's vehemence and disgust really caught Vader unprepared but he held onto his single hope – that with time and patience, they could mend the broken bridges between them – and forged onward. "I only seek your safety, child. It is the only reason why I can't let you leave. However, while you are here, we can also finally catch up on the time that was stolen from both of us, can't we?"

"You should try with the clone; you'll have more success with it than with me. I'll never be _your_ son."

Vader sighed and stood up, aware that remaining longer with Luke tonight would only worsen their already chaotic relationship.

"You are the only one that matters to me, Luke. You are your mother's child, her flesh and blood and the last vestige of my love for her; you are the only one that I seek to protect from Palpatine. While you will be here, all your physical needs will be seen to," he continued to explain, changing the subject, "and except for your freedom, you can have anything you wish, if within reason. You only have to ask."

His only answer was the boy turning back to the sight of the stars, patently dismissing both him and his words from his awareness.

Disappointed even though he had known what to expect from the imprisoned youth, Vader left him alone once again.

* * *

After Vader left him alone, Luke spent several minutes trying to control his anger and frustration. He knew that he couldn't give into them, but it was still extremely annoying that Vader could suddenly control his life and keep him captive this easily.

A sliding sound attracted his attention to the mahogany desk that sat in the far corner of his large and richly-furnished cell. He fractionally turned his head toward it, noticed that a platter of very nutritious and delicious-looking food had been delivered from Force-knew-where. The aroma itself was enough to make his stomach ache for its offering, its irresistible smell rising languidly from the steaming plate before it quickly filled the bland air of the quiet room.

Even though his stomach growled loudly in reaction to the cruel bait, Luke turned back to his absentminded staring and sulking.

He might not be able to physically escape, but there were other ways to reach his end. Since he had already learnt that his cuff was not only meant to stun him whenever he stepped through the door's inner frame but also if he attempted to commit suicide in any obvious way, that left him only one way out: starvation and complete dehydration.

Well so be it, he mused in resignation. He would not give Vader the satisfaction of winning over him. He would rob the Sith lord of his victory, even if it was the last thing he did.

Closing his eyes, he ignored his growing thirst and hunger and waited for time to do its unforgiving work on him.

* * *

Two days later, Vader reported to the Emperor after the despot called him to inquire about the evolution of his new plan.

The Sith master could feel _Luke_ growing stronger every day and was impatient to deal with him. Vader reiterated his intention to bring the boy to him the moment that he had him in custody.

It was thus proven that Sidious was still completely ignorant of his apprentice's current ploy; it pleased the dark lord to the utmost.

Then, like the day before, the dark lord of the Sith assumed his commanding duties for the rest of the day and evening, meeting with his subalterns when necessary, but mostly roaming the bridge as if he were waiting for results of his new launch of probe droids. As usual, the ensigns and the crew were properly subdued by his ominous presence, thus extremely efficient.

It satisfied him, of course, but it also made the day a little more tolerable. Of course, Force-strangling an incompetent might also help vent some of his boiling frustration regarding his dysfunctional relationship with his son, but he didn't want to overdo it with his crew. He was aware that they respected him because he didn't kill unless someone had failed him, and then in a rather essential task.

Fear was useful, he had learnt, but terror crippled even the best and brightest, and that was not his intention for he needed each and every one of his men at the top of their game.

Still, he _was_ frustrated and irritated, and it was hard not to give into his rising anger.

The previous day, he had limited himself to checking on his son through the Force, aware that his mere physical presence would irk Luke to the utmost. During his discreet contacts, he had felt both his son's depressive mood and his adamant resolve to resist him at all costs. Yet, for all the boy's displeasure at him, and much to his surprise, he had also felt the child's deeply-buried curiosity about his father - his true father - and it had encouraged him to simply allow the boy to come around on his own.

He now knew for certain that he would, too, in time.

Still, when he was _finally_ able to retire to his quarters, a little earlier than usual, he went straight to his son's quarters. Although he had been shielding the boy's Force presence ever since recovering him, he once again double-checked both of their shields before he stepped into the securely-locked secret room.

Just like he had felt through the Force while checking on Luke while the door cycled open, the boy was on his bed, laid on his side and still clothed with the dark tunic and pants that he had worn when he had found him.

He grimaced at the thought that, if the child hadn't cleaned them in any way, they were probably beginning to smell. His frown then deepened at that thought and he decided that no son of his – and no son of his always proper and regal Padme - would wear anything but the best, the finest _and_ the cleanest, available.

On the bed, his son remained asleep, utterly undisturbed by his presence. At first, Vader didn't see any problem with that, but the longer he studied the boy's relaxed features, the more he noticed that there was something amiss with them.

Belatedly, he looked around and finally noticed the rows of untouched and spoiling plates of food that had piled up beside the delivery hatch of the food dispenser. Immediately concerned, he turned his focus back on the boy who hadn't stirred at all since he had arrived. He reached out to check on his physical state - truly check this time - and swore in Hutteese.

Why that stubborn-

His first reflex was to call his personal medic- but he quickly stopped himself when he remembered that, as per his plan, Luke _wasn't_ aboard. Therefore, he couldn't be the subject of a registered and filed emergency call, nor could Lord Vader be the subject of such a call without alerting people all the way to the imperial palace on Coruscant.

He furiously raked his brain for his next available option and finally remembered his own reserve of liquid nutritive serums meant for the days when he didn't have time to remove his mask in order to feed himself. He rushed out of the room, leaving the door open so that it wouldn't slow him down on his way back.

While he had made sure to keep his son's body nourished while the Jedi had been unconscious throughout their days of transit, he had not taken further precaution afterward. Instead, he had expected the child to be like him when he had been younger, hence that Luke would simply attack whatever food he would be given after awakening from his extended slumber and to a growling stomach.

How wrong he had been... He could only hope that he was still in time to fix his unwise mistake.

He stalked straight into his custom-made 'fresher and Force-ripped open the inset cabinet. Ignoring his slightly-shaking hands, he simultaneously Force-pulled into his hands a vial, a syringe and his med-kit. He had barely grasped them that he was rushing back to his son's side.

Kreth! He swore vehemently. When he wasn't the one hurting Luke, his son did it for him. This was not proceeding '_at all_' like how he had planned.

Back in Luke's room, he quickly rolled the unconscious youth on his back and, using his fear to fuel his already impressive physical strength, forcefully ripped off the boy's left sleeve even as he twisted the exposed limb until the inside of his elbow and the veins there were accessible to him.

Familiar with the procedure thanks to the numerous times that he had used it on himself and the tricky injection point that was the only remaining joint of his right arm, Vader quickly cleaned the skin with a disinfectant before he pricked the larger vein with the needle.

That action, unlike the others , didn't go unnoticed by his badly-dehydrated and famished son.

* * *

Luke had been blissfully unaware of his circumstances, drifting in the void while he welcomed his approaching death- when a stabbing pain pulled him back to reality and his weakened physical body. He snapped his eyes open, only to find Vader's ominous form looming over him while the Sith held his left arm - and shot him with drugs!

He reflexively tried to pull away from his tormentor, but Vader's hand on his left biceps was like a metallic vise from which there was no escape.

Luke really cringed at that. He _hated_ needles.

"I dislike them as well, Son, but you give me no choice. I will not lose you again."

Luke glared up at the threatening dark lord. "Get _out_ of my head!" He pulled again against his grip, only to hurt himself when the tip of the needle shifted position inside his vein and jabbed him again, in a much more harmful and painful way when it tore open a larger part of the vein and skin. "Gaaah!"

"Hold _still_!" Vader ordered him while he withdrew the needle before it could do more damage. "If you do not, I will have to knock you out and what you are trying to stop will still happen."

"And there you are, still threatening me," Luke pointed out in sarcasm, glowering up at the dark lord. "You _are_ still hurting me, despite what you might think."

"Only because you are not cooperative."

"And I never will."

They glared at each other, Luke still pulling hard against Vader's grip- and finally broke free when the other barely loosened his grip on his arm. His adrenaline pumping, he found strength that he shouldn't have after a little over two days of complete lack of food and drink; he rolled off the bed and assumed a defensive stance.

Meanwhile, Vader, who was still sitting on the other side of the mattress, slowly stood up to his full two-meter and imposing height. "It is pointless to resist, Son," he warned him in an ominous repeat of Bespin.

"It is _not_," Luke objected, oblivious of his bleeding arm "and I will never—"

He had barely come up with an attack plan that his senses eluded him after the dark lord barely motioned with his hand.

* * *

Vader caught his son's crumpling body with the Force and brought him back on the bed where he quickly inoculated him with a second dose of nutrients. Then, once that danger was over, he tended his son's accidental injury as best as he could.

Gently, careful not to hurt the child in any way, he squeezed the arm just hard enough to stop the bleeding while he used the Force to draw closer the emergency first-aid kit that he had brought with him.

Although the injury didn't seem severe, the fact that it involved a large vein in the boy's arm worried him enough that he didn't want to take any chances with it.

Thus, he sprayed the injury with a coagulant agent that would heal both the vein and the skin. Then, when the bleeding stopped, he wrapped the arm in a bacta bandage, which he protected with a regular gaze bandage. He then called on the Force to complete the healing.

Either he didn't do the latest correctly, or his Dark Side powers violently clashed with his son's Light, but whichever the reason, the youth started awake as if he had been shocked by electricity.

Upon seeing him once again looming over him, and then taking notice of his bandaged arm, Luke swifly rolled toward him and on his left side and wounded arm - and tried to kick him as hard as he could with his right leg.

Vader easily blocked him with a Force shield, but that didn't stop his son from trying to hurt him three more times the same way, probably out of frustration, Vader surmised.

When a fourth time seemed to be on the way, the Sith lord sighed in resignation and shifted his shield to the boy's leg so that it was pinned to the mattress. Luke's irritation increased at that and he tried to shove him away with the Force, which Vader also easily blocked. "Beware of your anger, young one," he admonished him next. "It can lead you on the path you want to avoid, as well as the path that I also do not wish for you."

"Look who's talking!" Luke spat in indignation.

Vader pulled away so that he did not loom over him anymore, but he didn't remove his Force-bonds on the youth just yet. "Luke, why don't you just stop resisting? I promise that you won't regret it. I do not wish you any harm of any kind."

"Why?" Luke glared while he strained against his invisible bonds. "Why? Perhaps because of my guardians's death, or perhaps because of Alderaan's destruction, or Leia's torture,... or you torturing me when we first met, or perhaps it's just about Bespin... or our latest confrontation. Why don't you take your pick?"

If Luke's glare could have melted metal, Vader would've been a puddle of black goo by then.

Instead, the dark lord nodded, sadly acknowledging all his mistakes that had deeply affected the boy. "You're right, I hurt you and your friends... I did so much more than I care to remember, but not anymore, I promise. All I'm asking is that you allow me to prove it to you."

"Or lie to me."

"I do _not_ lie," he replied firmly. "I've been lied enough in my life to know how horrible _that_ feels."

"And I'm just supposed to believe you?" Luke scoffed in disbelief.

The worst part of this new confrontation was that the youth was right. He couldn't deny any of his claims – saved for that lying comment. Other than that, Luke was absolutely justified to react the way he did, and if it weren't for the danger of his temperamental son turning to the Dark Side and losing himself like Anakin did, Vader would gladly allow the child to seek retribution for as long as he needed. It would be more than his due.

However, the danger of the Dark Side _was_ all-too-real and even looming closer than ever to the boy. He _had_ to calm him down. "I know that I shouldn't, but I _do_ hope that, given time to recover your calmer disposition, hence the wisdom born of the Light Side of the Force flowing through you, you will _know_ that you can trust me as far as your well-being is concerned."

He then released him from his Force bonds as a sign of truce.

* * *

Even though Luke wanted to remain angry at his captor and arch nemesis, and that he was standing again the moment that he had been released from the bed, Vader's words had hit a sensitive chord in him.

The Force.

Up to that moment, he hadn't thought about how his actions and angry attitude could influence his connection to it, but with the mention of his lack of serenity, he had realized just how close to the edge he had been teetering since he had first woken up in his golden cage.

No, he resolved and clenched his teeth in determination. No, he would _not_ fall like his father had. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths to find his center. Slowly, his frustration and burgeoning hatred dissipated like bad dreams, but then so did his adrenaline, thus his remaining strength.

His knees buckled yet again under him, but he didn't fall to the carpeted deck. Instead, his father offered unexpected Force support before he gently floated him back on the rumpled bed sheets.

Luke reflexively glared at the sitting dark lord, and then caught himself and forced himself to calm down. He _had_ to find his center, his serenity; it was the only way that he would not become like his father.

"Good," the Sith lord encouraged him and Luke looked up at him in mistrust. "Your emotions make you more powerful, it's true, but their help is very costly. Never forget that, Son."

"You mean like you conveniently forgot that nugget of wisdom when it was time to remember it?" the boy asked with a sneer.

Vader nodded silently.

"Fine, I get it," he answered with remaining animosity but no more anger. "Your presence is not helping me however." he added, defeated.

"I will not leave this room until your body has absorbed the nutrients," Vader replied, matter-of-fact. "If you don't like this, then eat your food from now on. Just take good care of yourself, Son, and we won't need to repeat this unpleasant episode."

"Terrific... Now I have a dark lord for chaperon," Luke grumbled and allowed himself to lay back on the bed before he turned his back to his father. "Who would've thought…"

He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep as fast as he could to escape at least the present and his father's overbearing presence behind him.

* * *

Except for his cursed breathing sound, Vader remained silent while he watched the youth sulk childishly. He then noticed once again his dirty clothes and decided that if Luke didn't change them soon, he would take care of them himself.

"Tomorrow, throw those reeking clothes away or I will do it myself, after I remove them from you."

"Don't you dare," Luke muttered but didn't turn around. "And that's none of your business."

Feeling like he had to assert some of his parental authority in the matter, the dark lord grabbed his son's left shoulder and rolled him back toward him. "When I said that you will take good care of yourself, it included wearing clean clothes, which you have plenty of in your new closet, there," he pointed at the wall.

"Right, and because you're my father, you expect me to obey?" Luke sneered even as he shrugged his arm out of Vader's grip.

The challenge was implicit but Vader still understood that he had to try another approach if he wanted to make his point. "I thought you were more mature than that, Son."

"Says the immature bully who's trying to push on me a life I don't want nor care about?" the boy retorted, sitting up once again to glower at him from point blank range.

Vader sighed again. There was no reaching his son as long as he would be this rebellious. He brought his hand to his son's face- and it was immediately slapped away even as the boy physically drew away.

"Don't touch me," Luke warned in a tone that brooked no argument.

Vader accepted his request and withdrew. He had to respect the boy's desires in that aspect of their interactions.

There was simply a huge chasm between the two of them, one that would not be bridged, let alone filled, without much time and effort from his part.

Amends and redress would also be required from him before his son could ever see him as anything but evil incarnate.

"I know you don't believe me after everything I've done, Luke, but I care about you. I only want to protect you."

"You say protection, I say detention."

With that last argument, his son turned back into his previous position and pointedly ignored him.

Vader remained still and monitored the boy's senses while pondering his next course of action. To his relief, Luke remained passive, heeding his warning not to attempt anything against the nutrients that he had been given.

There was at least that settled.

However, the first days of his reunion with his son had been worse than he had foreseen. He didn't know what to expect anymore. He could only hope that, now that he had made his basic requirement clear, his son would at least stop being troublesome.

TBC

* * *

Well? How was that? How did you like Luke's attempt to escape? And Vader's reaction to that discovery? How about the ensuing confrontations? Are you like Vader, uncertain as to what Luke would do next? Or do you have an inkling about what his next move will be? :)

If you want more, you know what to do:) If you don't want more because of bad characterizations, lack of detail, or anything that could help me improve this story into a more edible read, I'd still like to know why (via private messaging if you prefer). However, if you simply don't like this 'kind' of story because it's not your style, then don't worry. To each our own :)

Have a great week everyone, and remember, reviews are very precious gifts all year long :) Moreover, this time, they might make me work on this story first for the next year or so ;P So? Will you vote for it? I hope so!


	4. Chapter 4

Deceit

By Mireille

1999/2012-02-12

* * *

Good afternoon everyone! First of all, thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story's last post! Your comments really meant a lot to me!

DeR, Pegasusrider, and guest, I'm glad you enjoyed the latest part as well and, Guest, that you liked Luke's attempt to escape and the ensuing confrontation (I wasn't sure if Luke would be believable with the kicking stuff; I'm really happy that he is :). Looking forward to hearing your comments about this next part as well :)

Thanks as well for the favorites and alerts. I still hope to one day hear your thoughts in more details :)

* * *

_Previously_: After capturing Luke, Vader transferred all of the boy's knowledge and personality into a perfect clone replica of the young Jedi, which he then sent back to the Rebellion while he secretly brought his real son aboard the Executor. After Luke woke up in quarters from which he couldn't escape, and that Vader explained that he had brought him there for his protection from the Emperor, Luke tried to escape through starvation and dehydration. Vader intervened before he set some ground rules for the captive Jedi, expecting his son to behave better from now on.

* * *

Here is the fourth part of the first of eleven stories that I felt like writing, but couldn't decide which to work on first.

After a whole summer of leaving the choice up to you, my valued readers, _Deceit_ finished 4th. Therefore, while I will still add to this story on few occasions a year (like during vacation times), my focus will be on other stories for now. However, you know how to make me want to add more to this faster, right? ;P

Yup, you got it ;) You have to hit the button at the bottom of this post and do your reader thing :)

Please, don't hesitate to share your thoughts :D

* * *

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.

* * *

Part 4: Be careful what you wish for...

Despite Vader's restrictions, Luke didn't intend to make it any easier for his jailor. After all, if the Dark Lord insisted that he '_lived_' with him, then the older man would live to regret not allowing him to escape in any way.

He would also not allow the Dark Lord to control him anymore than necessary, starting with his choice of clothes. So his sire wanted him to wear clean clothes? Luke frowned while he reluctantly ate the breakfast that had been delivered while he had still been lounging around in his bed.

Well, he decided in resent, he didn't say _which_ clean clothes he'd have to wear and so, he would just continue to wear his rebel-issue black uniform.

He didn't finish the over-generous plate of food, disgusted by the abuse of resources that it represented; he shoved it back into the delivery chute, the plate still almost half full.

Then, he slowly shuffled his sock-covered feet toward the long chest of drawers that sat against the wall that faced his large bed. There, he checked its content, but only for a temporary change of clothes. He fortunately found something that suited his need and grabbed a pair of slacks and a cotton shirt. He then closed the drawer before he disappeared inside the 'fresher.

There, he pulled large towels from the open shelves/towel warmer before he started the luxurious shower that he had spotted during his first visit in the bathroom. Like he had surmised, it wasn't a sonic model but a water shower.

At first, the water was freezing cold on his stretched hand and so, he adjusted the dial until the liquid droplets had reached a comfortable temperature.

Although it was the first time that he was confronted to that kind of installation, the blue to red indications around the dial were simple enough that he could instantly understand how to adjust the temperature of the water jet.

While he made minute adjustments, he noticed that the long sleeve of his shirt quickly became soaked and he shrugged inwardly. With what he had in mind, the whole shirt would soon be wet as well so why bother keeping that one dry right now?

Then, while he left the water running, he removed his clothes and threw them into the shower stall where they quickly became sodden with water. When even his underwear had joined the pile, the young Jedi made sure that he had the necessary soap with him before he finally stepped inside the now steam-filled enclosure and closed the door behind him.

Despite his lack of interest to collaborate in any way with Vader, he couldn't help the gasp of pleasant surprise that escaped him when his whole body suddenly stood under the watery downpour of the shower head.

Force, this was glorious... It was even better than he had ever imagined; it was instantly refreshing, soothing, and yet invigorating as well. He found himself increasing the warmth of the water a little more before he truly sighed in bliss.

Gods, this was heaven. It was perfect and wonderfully indescribable; he had never thought that this kind of pleasure was so easily accessible to anyone not living in a desert and/or rich enough to afford the installation.

Of course, he had heard about water showers; Leia had often referred to them whenever they had found a waterfall to clean up a little during or after a mission. However, the natural stream of water had always been too cold to truly be comfortable for an ex-Tatooine womprat like him and so, he had never truly derived pleasure from the experiences.

Right now, however, he could truly understand what the fuss was all about and he wholeheartedly agreed with everything he had been told.

There was no better way to get cleaned except, perhaps, in a bath tub. That comparison, however, would have to wait because he only had a shower stall at his disposal.

Still, he craned his head backward and allowed the hot stream of water to fall on his upturned face; in spite of his displeasure about his current situation, he couldn't help but smile at the incredible sensation of the hot watery pearls flowing over his face. It was even better than standing in the rain for the first time, even better than stepping for the first time in the lukewarm waters of the lake where Han had taught him how to swim.

For the longest of moments, he forgot everything else, merely revelling in the newfound delightful sensation and standing so that every inch of his body was wrapped in the warm embrace of the watery droplets.

Then, a while later, he shifted his feet a little to direct the water's light massaging effect toward his left shoulder and shoulder blade - and his toes encountered his wet Rebel clothes. Right, he reminded himself when he looked down. He had more than himself to wash. He poured liquid soap into right hand, Force-Called his first piece of clothing to his left hand, and then, while still standing under his hot heaven, proceeded to hand wash his trousers.

So it went for every other piece of his chosen Jedi uniform before he left the clean clothes at his feet and resumed simply enjoying himself while the falling water finished rinsing out their suds. He could stay like this all day long, he mused, allowing his current physical sensation to make him forget the details of his whereabouts. For a moment, he was once again free, the galaxy was not at war anymore, and his father had not turned out to be his arch nemesis.

For now, everything was right with the universe and with the Force and he never wanted it to end.

* * *

Outside of the shower stall, the mirror of the vanity counter fogged up completely, the room's ceramic became slippery with humidity and the toilet paper became moist and unusable, and still, he remained under the liquid blessing.

The skin of his fingers and toes had long since wrinkled up yet he stayed under the shower head. He had even directed it so that he could lean against the cooler ceramic wall behind him while still benefitting from the pleasure of his newfound favorite experience.

Finally feeling at peace once again, he was able to reconnect with the Force and dwell in its Light, replenishing his soul as well as his body.

Then, the water slowly began to feel a little colder; when it became slightly uncomfortable, he tried to nudge it back to the previous temperature, but he couldn't increase its warmth anymore.

He understood that he had actually begun to empty whatever source he had been depleting of hot water. Luke sighed in resignation and, most reluctantly, turned off newfound personal paradise. He then extended his hand over the upper edge of the closed door and Force-Pulled his prepared large towel over the lip; he began drying himself inside the stall.

He just didn't feel like exposing himself to any possible camera that might be installed outside of the shower and he didn't trust Vader not to keep an eye on him even in this area of privacy.

However, behind the frosty heavy plastic door and the ceramic walls that he had meticulously studied while in under the shower head, he felt safer.

Somehow.

Thus, he dried himself, wrapped the towel around his slim hips and strong legs, and then used the Force to wring his underwear as much as possible. Next, and still with the Force, he Pushed every remaining droplet of water out of the cotton fibres, and then put back on the dry article of clothing.

With that done, he Called his temporary change of clothes to his hands and dressed up once again.

Then, and only then, he stepped out of the stall and finished drying his feet and hair with the now-damp towel. While he did so, he spotted the chrono that was inset in the wall besides the vanity and started.

Three hours?!

Apparently, he had been in there for almost three hours! It hadn't felt nearly that long to him, he conceded.

Oh well, he shrugged next, that was three less hours to contend with in unpleasant captivity and isolation. He turned back toward the open shower stall.

He proceeded to wring the water out of the rest of his clothes. Unlike his underwear and socks, however, he didn't manage to completely dry them, not even using the Force. Therefore, he hung the rest of his clothes in the towel warmer and initiated the device.

By the time that the door of the 'fresher finally slid open once again, steam actually billowed out of the smaller room while he stepped out into his much cooler main room.

'And back to reality,' he grimaced even as his milder mood soured once again at the sight of his plush cell. Oh, it was much more comfortable than any other cell he had ever been in, but it was '_still_' nothing but a cage to hold him.

He hated it.

His eyes were then drawn to the plate of food that slid out of the wall.

Apparently, it was already lunch time.

Dejected, he walked closer, picked up the slice of bread and the bowl of soup but left the main plate untouched. What he had elected to it was already more than most prisoners ever got, but he simply refused to play the willing and pampered guest.

He was an unwilling prisoner and would collaborate as little as possible. He would only collaborate enough to keep Vader and his needles and threats at bay.

Once he had finished his frugal meal, he sat back down in the lip of his large windowbay and stared outside and at the galaxy that, although within eye sight, might as well be completely out of his reach.

So close, yet so very far from reach anymore...

He eventually fell asleep from boredom.

* * *

That evening, Vader managed to return to his quarters a little earlier than the previous day. It pleased him.

He couldn't wait to visit his son once again, especially since he had felt him move around his quarters during the day. Luke had at least heeded his warning and had risen from his bed today. That, too, pleased him.

He had also felt him take advantage of his water shower not once but twice, the last time being a little earlier during the evening. Like he had expected, the experience had been as delightful to Luke as it had been to him when he had first been introduced to this kind of installation.

At the time, Obi-Wan had had to use the Force to pry him away from the shower stall so that he wouldn't spend his whole days under the stream of real water.

His son was lucky that, other than for his own tank of hot water, he didn't face any restriction of any kind.

He hoped that his boy's change of activity also came with a change of attitude so that they could finally talk instead of fight and argue.

Sadly, though, the moment that he stepped inside the child's quarters, he understood that it was not to be so.

Not yet, anyway.

His son was sitting against the side of his bed, his eyes gazing unseeingly at the wonders of the galaxy that shone through the baywindow that he faced. However, his ears had picked up his distinctive breathing sound and Vader Felt his flinch through the Force.

Indeed, they had a very long way to go before they could ever merely talk together.

Careful not to upset the boy any further, or to appear threatening when it wasn't his intention, he slowly pulled out the large chair of his son's desk and sat in it.

If not for his Force bond with the child, he would not be able to tell that he was unnerved just to know him nearby. Luke was simply as still and as unresponsive as a statue.

After a while, a muscle finally shifted in the Jedi's face as he set his jaw further, but other than that, he didn't give any outward sign of his true discomfort about the situation.

Vader studied him silently, cursing his respirator for filling the silence that would otherwise be peace-inducing. The boy's hair were still damp from his second shower, and his clothes – the same as the day before – looked less rumpled and even cleaner.

Still… "I told you to change clothes, Son. Sticking to your Rebel clothes is childish even for you."

"You said to wear clean clothes, and they are clean. I don't want anything from you." He didn't turn around to answer him, didn't even glare askance at him.

Vader had no choice but to concede the point. He hadn't thought that his son would go as far as to wash his Rebel clothes to avoid being forced into clothes provided by him, but perhaps he should have.

"You don't want anything," he answered after a moment, "except, perhaps, answers about the secrets of the past that not even Obi-Wan shared with you?"

Luke jaw muscle twitched again in tension but the child stubbornly remained silent.

Vader shrugged and gazed out the baywindow like his son did. "I remember when I yearned to visit all the stars of the galaxy," he began, hoping to draw the boy's curiosity out of wherever he had managed to bury it.

* * *

While Luke couldn't block out Vader's voice - no matter how hard he tried - he still made sure to remain as stoic and unmoved as he could while the Sith told him that he, too, had lived on Tatooine until he had been freed from slavery by a Jedi Knight.

He told him about his mother – Luke's grandmother whose tomb the youth had often visited even though he had never met the woman his aunt had told him about.

Vader also tried another angle by bringing up his meeting with Luke's mother, but still, the Jedi remained silent.

Oh, he was curious to hear more about his unknown mother, but he would die before he asked anything from the Dark Lord who was holding him prisoner.

The Sith, of course, tried to draw him out by prompting him to ask questions if he had any, and then he dared asked him about his own life on Tatooine.

That not only increased Luke's frustration about his unwanted visitor, but it also generated a cold feeling of disgust from him that even Vader Felt.

"I only wish to know you better, Son. I was, in a way, stolen from you and your mother, but you were taken from me as well. I wanted to be there for you - I should have been there with you! Is it that unreasonable for a father to ask questions about his son's life for the past two decades? Is it even normal for a father to not know anything about that son's life?"

Luke maintained his silence, much to Vader's palpable frustration.

He then flinched when Vader sighed and stood back to his feet, and then let go of the breath that he had been holding when the Dark Lord turned away without another word and left his cell.

Luke followed his presence through the Force, just long enough to make sure that he was not coming back for the day, and then quickly cut off the contact when he Felt the older man give into his anger and begin slashing droids in a training room.

So Vader was angered by his silence? Good, he mused flatly. Perhaps he would get so frustrated that he would eventually kill him and put him out of his misery. And if not, then the unhappier the Sith was, the happier Luke was.

If what he was feeling could be called happiness, at least.

As for his father, well..., he brushed a stray tear that managed to slip past his rigid self-control, he wished he had known him at the time that Vader had described, but it was too late.

Vader had destroyed any possible relationship they could ever have as father and son.

He slumped further down and brooded for as long as he didn't fall asleep on his feet.

Then, and only then, he climbed up on his bed and, still wearing his clothes, he laid on his side and let the pervasive silence of his quarters lull him into uneasy sleep.

* * *

The following days were pretty much repeats of the previous one for Luke. He woke up, he ate as little as possible of his breakfast, he took a first three-hour long shower, he ate a meagre lunch, sulked, ate a part of his dinner, and sulked some more before and during Vader's daily visit.

Unlike the first day, however, Luke began to delay his second shower, saving it for after Vader left him alone. He just felt dirty after those visits and had realized that a physical cleansing was exactly what he needed to help restore his mental stability for the night and the following day.

As for Vader, he tried any and every subject he could think of to trigger his son's interest and finally crack the shell of indifference in which he had wrapped himself.

Luke's grandmother, Padme, Anakin's life on Tatooine, his time with the Jedi, and even his long experience with Palpatine/Darth Sidious and how he had destroyed the Jedi and maintained power so far: nothing worked.

Sharing his vision for them and his admission that he truly needed Luke's help to achieve it didn't help in any way either.

In fact, the only answer Luke ever gave his nemesis, and only after remaining mute for several days, was: "Why don't you try the clone."

That kind of cold shoulder attitude as well as his refusal to wear any of the clothes that the Sith had picked out for him more than annoyed the darksider, who had little to no patience.

However, he, like Vader, knew that the Dark Lord couldn't act against him without negating his own efforts to show the Rebel another side of Vader. Besides, he couldn't exactly complain either as he _did_ wear clean clothes now, washing his Rebel uniform every two days. He also ate from every plate that he was delivered, if only much less than he was provided with.

In short, Luke's remaining attempts to retain any possible control despite his restrictions were more symbolic than efficient in any way, but they were still signs of a lack of willing collaboration and Luke was adamant to hold onto them for as long as he could.

Of course, that was why Vader kept coming day after day, obviously hoping to wear down that last line of defense by _bonding_ with him, at long last.

Luke, however, was resolute that he would not give this last victory to the Sith – not ever. Vader would '_never_' find a way past his dislike of him.

Dislike, though, was only a choice of word to avoid nourishing his hatred and anger at the man who had sired him because if he could, then he would think the real words that fit his feelings: anger and despise, and a lot of resentment.

He only wished that he wasn't a Jedi so that he didn't have to constantly rid himself of all the negative feelings that would lead him to follow in his father's hated footsteps.

Besides, if he were not a Jedi, he would also '_not_' be of interest so 'W_hy_?', he asked the Force for the umpteenth time. Why was he born a Jedi? What had he done in his previous lives to deserve becoming the spawn of the harbinger of doom of their galaxy, inheriting that scourge's powers, hence being at risk of worsening the problem instead of fixing it?

Surely, the ultimate power in the galaxy was wiser than to take such chances with the future of everything it had created, at least if the scriptures were true… And what would become of him now? He wondered while he distractedly munched on one of the fresh fruits that were now always delivered throughout the day by the wall unit.

As always, it was delicious and didn't compare in any way to anything he had ever eaten before, but he didn't dwell on that.

It was just yet another way for Vader to try and seduce him to the Dark Side.

Or worse, to '_Vader's_' side.

Luke was still sitting on the floor, leaning dejectedly against the side of his bed and staring out at the stars, when the subject of his nightmares stepped yet again through the locked door of his cell, the sound of his respirator instantly filling the room where near-perfect silence had reigned just moments before.

Luke didn't even flinch anymore, but he still didn't speak either.

After long minutes of tangible tension, Vader finally stepped closer and looked down at his despondent son. "Luke, Son, this is not you," he rebuked him.

Luke replied in wordless indifference by folding his left leg up and extending his left arm until his forearm rested nonchalantly on his bent knee.

"Unless you haven't realized," Vader went on, "I have not taken measures to block you from the Force, and I am not trying to turn you into a Sith. I'm surprised that you haven't even trained once in the past weeks."

Luke remained impassive, as usual.

"I care about you, Son. Remember when I said that I was protecting you from Palpatine? Well, I truly am, but there is still a slight possibility that he'll eventually figure out where you are. If he does, the stronger in the Force you will be, the better you will fare against him. He is more powerful than you can imagine, I assure you."

And he'd kill him, Luke thought in resignation, quite at peace with the idea of finally leaving his dismal life behind.

"Not even four Jedi masters banding together, or grand Master Yoda could defeat him, Son. That's how powerful he is."

* * *

Vader had expected Luke to react at the mention of his Jedi master losing to Palpatine, but even that couldn't draw him out of the '_trance_' he was in whenever they were together.

His son simply didn't care about anything anymore, except to escape or die, of course.

He changed tactic. "He used your mother to become Emperor."

Although Luke didn't move an iota from his position, Vader felt an inkling of interest coming from the boy.

He proceeded to tell him the story of how Padme had become embroiled in Palpatine's schemes, how he had manipulated her to become Supreme Chancellor, and eventually Emperor.

Through his accounting, Luke appeared unmoving but Vader could Feel his son's curiosity through the Force.

At last.

He was careful to maintain it by keeping himself out of the story; he had belatedly understood that any focus on his personal history only upset the boy further. This time, he tried to paint as complete a mental picture of his wife as possible.

When he offered the boy to show him holos, however, he Felt him clamp down yet again, losing whatever progress he had begun to make with him.

He sighed in renewed frustration but forced himself to calm down. Berating the boy would not help him anymore than any of his past appeals had.

At least, he encouraged himself, Luke didn't hold a grudge against both of his parents; only against him. Thankfully, Padme's memory was safe from retributions by her son.

He turned on his heels and walked toward the door. He was about to enter the protected vestibule when he stopped and addressed the boy again. "I expected you to be more curious about your quarters, but since you haven't explored them by now, I will tell you what you're missing. There is another furnished room behind that wall. If you checks '_its_' walls, you will find amenities that should help make your sojourn more pleasant."

When Luke '_still_' failed to react, Vader shook his head in annoyance and walked out without another word.

He would find a way to break through to his son, he promised himself.

He '_would_' be the father that he should have always been.

* * *

The next morning, it was Luke's growling stomach and the smell of fresh pastries that drew him out of his funk.

His stomach had been growling for a while now, so when breakfast was delivered as usual, it literally screamed at him to relieve it at least a little.

He reluctantly rose, again, and ambled toward the waiting plate. Then, after grabbing the first toast on top of the plate, he glanced at the wall that his captor had pointed out during his previous visit.

He dimly Reached out to check what it was all about- and started despite himself when a concealed door slid open to reveal the extra room that had been pointed out.

Curious to see if Vader might have made a mistake in this room where he hadn't in the others, he forgot his breakfast and stepped inside the second room.

What instantly caught his attention was the large thin-screen that was embedded in the opposite wall in front of him. There was also a complete set of couches and regular living room furniture placed within sighting range of it. Luke then turned his head to the right and raised his eyebrows in surprise; there was a complete sound system sitting in that wall.

The walls on both sides of it were also filled with too many datacards to count, as well as a terminal that probably allowed the user to find more if he didn't find what he was looking for on the shelves.

Finally, on one of the low tables near a couch, Luke found a datapad, which he instantly recognized as one that could navigate the holonet. He had never seen one of those, not outside of libraries anyway.

He smirked when he realized that Vader had made his first mistake; he quickly Force-called the pad to his hand.

He then studied its screen, selected the communication module… and frowned.

The pad couldn't find any program installed.

Okay, he conceded to the adversary, the Sith had thought of that one. However…

Opening the holonet, Luke went to a site where potential allies and lost rebels could send coded messages without anyone in the Empire ever catching whiff of those. Of course, it was not the most efficient way to communicate important information, as it was also and primarily visited by people who were not potential allies, and those people generated thousands of messages per month which were then sifted by Alliance intel when they had time, but still… it was worth a…

"Oh, come on!" Luke complained out loud and dropped the pad on the nearest chair.

'_Of course_' Vader had thought of that one, too. He should have known… After all, if the madman was clever enough to think of replacing him by a clone, he couldn't have overlooked details such as allowing him to write a warning to anyone through the net.

'He was a cunning warrior,' Ben had said.

It was only dawning on Luke just how intelligent his… Vader – , he reminded himself meaningfully – was.

He huffed and pondered if there was anything that he should try. The rumor mill, he decided. If he couldn't contact his friends, then at least he could try and find out what has been happening to them since he was replaced.

Unfortunately, he found out rather quickly that, with an imperial-programmed holopad, sites with the words Rebellion or Alliance were blocked off and unaccessible. Once again upset, he studied the list of results from his latest attempt to circumvent the imperial's block when he noticed the description of the other holonet sites that also came up with his research.

Right, he mused silently even as a very unusual idea began to take shape in his mind.

So Vader wanted to be the father that he couldn't be, huh?

He'd give him more than he wished for.

He would also make Vader '_really_' regret cooping him up like that and against his will.

His revenge would be slow, he thought in twisted expectation, slow and maddening. He would make sure of it.

* * *

Whereas his son had been at best, awake and either showering or eating, and at worst, cathartic ever since he had brought him aboard, today was different.

All of a sudden, he could feel the boy not only busy himself more than usual, but he also Felt him reach out and use the Force from time to time.

Fortunately, thanks to the shield that he had set up around Luke's Force presence, he was the only one who Felt those but from close range like that, there was no doubt that his son's powers were growing even more than he had thought.

He could only hope that the clone decoy would conceal his son's true signature by growing just as fast as the original Jedi did.

Curious as to what might have brought about this change of attitude in the boy, he went in his quarters to '_meditate_', aware that no one ever dared disturb him when he was so engaged.

* * *

Once in his quarters, he Reached out with the Force and entered his private sanctum, and then his son's room.

He stepped inside the room proper, Feeling his son's presence by his desk - when something violently impacted with his eye screens, startling him.

What had-

This time, he caught the Force's warning and, following its guidance, raised his right hand and deftly caught the second projectile in midair. He then looked at it and frowned; it was one of the datadisks that he had left in his son's living room.

"YEhhh-Ah! One in a million!" the youth exclaimed in thoroughly-unusual glee and Vader finally turned his attention to him.

He could then only stare in disbelief at the sight of his normally well-mannered and quiet Jedi son as he sat _on_ the desk, his bare feet planted in the chair's seat, and playing a game of skills that involved a bowl set against the wall opposite him and the stack of datacards that he held in his hands and… was that a bottle of beer beside him?!—

He had barely taken in all those unfamiliar details that Luke resumed throwing the cards his way. Vader answered by raising his hand and Stopping the card with the Force. He then drew all the remaining cards out of Luke's hands and Sent them back on the low table of the living room.

"Awwww, party pooper," Luke groused, leaning back on his right hand while he picked up his beer with his left and chugged down a good and long swallow.

Confused, irritated, and simply unable to believe what his eyescreens were relaying to his almost-blind eyes, Vader reflexively Force-pulled the bottle out of Luke's reach as well- only to find it stopped by the boy's Force as he, too, Pulled on it.

Not to be bested by the insolent child, Vader focused more seriously on the challenge, gaining a millimetre in their tug of war, when Luke grinned maliciously and used the Force to tip the bottle upside down, instantly emptying it and turning his effort useless.

The carpet was thus soaked with the bitter beverage, much to Vader's increasing annoyance. He still pulled the empty glass bottle to his hand – so as to keep it away from his son's ill-intended reach – and stalked ominously toward the slouching and visibly spiteful youth.

Luke didn't flinch in the least, glaring up at him from under his eyebrows and the long bangs that now curtained his eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?" Vader growled, barely restraining himself from grabbing hold of Luke's lapel to pull him closer.

"Making myself comfortable," Luke answered sarcastically.

Well, at least he was finally talking to him, Vader reflected, but then he looked – truly looked - at the state of the room that he had meticulously prepared for his son and realized that it was a mess.

Everything that he had gathered for him: the nice clothes, the books, the furniture, the music cards, even the leftovers of his latest meal; all of it had been either tossed about and to the floor or disfigured by violent impacts.

"What? You thought that I was tidy and well-behaved?" Luke taunted, crossing his arms before he raised a hand sideways as if he were concluding an argument. "But then, how would you know who I really am since the last time I was your '_guest_', you kept me in chains and under torture," he accused him resentfully.

Vader couldn't help but smirk lightly behind his mask. Ah, so his son wanted to test his fatherly skills? He was game. "As a matter of fact, yes, I did. I figured that even the Rebels would have standards in that aspect."

"Well, you were wrong, just like you're wrong about everything else about me," Luke glared.

"Perhaps, but I see that you haven't touched the vid screen. I figured you'd like it," he commented, feeling jubilant at his small victory.

His satisfaction was quickly crushed by the boy. "Who says that I haven't saved it for next time?" Luke challenged, his lips twisting in a sneer that just didn't belonged on his son's kind-looking face.

"What would your aunt and uncle think if they were to see you acting like a brat?" Vader taunted, trying to hit one of Luke's sensitive chord. "I'm sure they raised you better than that."

"And what would your own mother think of the monster that you've become? What would Mom?"

Although Vader had sworn to never, ever lay a finger on the boy ever again, he could barely restrain himself from lunging at him when his accusations rang all too true for him.

Sith, the boy knew how to hurt him, he realized. Bespin's cut to his arm and his rejection of him had been but a preview of what he could really do.

He forced himself to calm down, clenching his fists at his sides until even the prosthesis under the leather began to creak under the intense pressure.

"You will have to clean this up yourself," he finally commented, aware that the clever boy had not missed a second of the internal struggle that had just raged inside him until a moment before. He pointed at the large stain on the carpet.

Luke snorted. "What makes you think that I want it to be cleaned?"

Vader was at a loss for words. This was a side of parenthood that he had never conceived possible with his grown-up son. He realized that he would have to hone his verbal skills to match his son's sudden disdain of everything and not only him anymore.

"When the stench will become sickening, you'll change your mind," he stated with finality before he turned on his heels. "Oh, and I am revoking your access to alcohol of any kind. Clearly, you are not mature enough to dabble in those."

"And you still haven't learnt one of the first lessons of life, namely that you can't always have it your way."

Vader, who had reached the door by then, couldn't help but turn around again at his son's stinging remark. He _had_ learnt that… He had had no choice but to learn that when- when...

He turned again yet again and left without a word, doing his best to forget all the pain and sad memories that his son's words had just awoken within him.

Behind him, Luke watched him leave, thinking to himself that it was one to zero for him.

He had finally found a way to get some payback from Vader, and with interests, too.

* * *

Five days later, Lord Vader pinched the bridge of his bare nose while he sat on the side of his specially-designed bed in his oxygen-rich bedroom.

'I should've read more parent/teenager psychology books' he thought in dismay.

Not only was Luke not cooperating in the least anymore, but every time that Vader ended up relying on threats to keep him in line, he merely proved that he was not able to deal with parenthood.

He had just never thought that his son, the gentled-soul and low-key Rebel commander that he had been pursuing for the best part of three years, could be so bratty and irreverent if he so choose.

His boy had spent way too much time with that Solo character. If the man weren't already frozen and delivered to Jabba the Hutt, Vader would hound him till the end of the galaxy, making sure to hurt him as much as possible along the way.

He sighed and rubbed his bleary eyes, feeling rather powerless and '_hating_' the sensation with all his might.

Ever since the day that he had messed up his room, Luke had ripped up all the clothes that he had provided him with, and he had spent his time listening to loud and nerve-grating so-called music, which he had somehow managed to download from the net and plug into his sound system. Then, when he wasn't busy collecting and transferring into his numerous electronic books all the morally-wrong material he could get his hands on, he was methodically breaking something else apart.

It mildly amused him that his son had tampered with just about anything that was in his rooms, save for the music player, the vidscreen, and the 'fresher. He had also begun to eat all the food that was given to him, but then, no hungry stomach would resist their delight for long.

As for he, dreaded Sith Lord whose mere mention sent even hardened scums scurrying for safety, well, he really didn't know how to deal with this save for the methods that he had promised himself that he would not use on his son ever again.

Hence, his young Jedi was winning their battle of will even though it wouldn't change the boy's circumstances in any way.

He tiredly laid down and closed his eyes.

He had fought and won against his young Jedi not so long ago, proving that he was still more than physically able, and yet that little emotional venture down the unknown path of fatherhood was making him feel just how _old_ he was becoming.

He dimly wondered how Padme would handle the boy if she were still alive.

* * *

About an hour later, just when the Dark Lord had finally managed to fall asleep, loud - very loud - and aggressing music suddenly blared right into his mind even as his son's voice began singing way off-key and as loudly as he could, also directly in his mind.

It was horrible as well as instantly infuriating.

*Oooh! Oh Yeah babe! Your body is the-oh-ah! Galaxy to meeeee!'

Enough, he decided as he jumped to his feet, put his mask back on and, foregoing his helmet, shoulder pad and cape, he went straight into his son's adjacent room.

This was the last straw.

* * *

Luke's lips curled into a satisfied half-smirk when he felt his father's fury. It was now ten to zero for him.

The dark lord '_finally_' stormed through his door and into the living room. Luke clinically reflected that his armor must be quite a problem when waking up in a hurry.

He pretended not to hear the Dark Lord until he had shut down the sound system, Force-ripping its plug out of the wall to do so.

"Do you know what time it is?" Vader growled, looming over him though without his whole armor, the effect was not nearly as effective as usual.

Luke barely looked at him, Plugging the system back in. "It's time to go out and have fun on at least half the worlds around here," he retorted, and then resumed his horrible signing.

* * *

Vader turned off the music once again and stepped even closer to his son, who was slouching in the long couch of his living room. He noticed that Luke was wearing a nice shirt, but from which he had ripped up the sleeves, and the trousers he had managed to rip holes in. His hair was also more messed up than usual and covered most his eyes with their unruly bangs.

In short, his son really looked like a rebellious brat instead of the dignified Rebel hero that he had first confronted three years ago and that he had brought back aboard, an eternity ago, it seemed.

As for him, he '_really_' didn't know how to control the youth without hurting him. He was just not a man who conceded anything to anybody, except to his slaver, at least for now.

He also needed his occasional sleep to recover from his long days and nights if he wanted to be able to handle the situation better.

Refreshing trances could only help him so much.

He loomed further over the youth and shook a warning finger at him.

"That's enough, Luke. One more prank like this and you'll lose all your music."

He had the satisfaction of seeing his son's eyes lose some of their arrogance and defiance. However, before he could savor the moment, it was already over.

"Well, when it's asked this nicely..." Luke glared at him. "How can I possibly refuse?"

Satisfied with the outcome, Vader nodded in agreement and straightened. Perhaps his son was finally seeing how useless his act was. "Good night, Son."

"Sleep tight, _Dad_," he sneered back.

The dark Lord exited the living room and, a moment later, Luke heard the main door slide open, and then shut.

He crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. "You're gonna need it," he smirked grimly.

He then set about getting some sleep himself.

* * *

The next day, Luke closely monitored his father's presence, selecting the best moments to irk him to the utmost.

The first time he did so, his father was meeting with his underligns in what was a very, very important and strategic meeting. Luke sat close to his speakers, prepared his attack, and then, when his father needed to hear what someone had to say, he Reached out while turning on the player, thus Sending the very loud music straight into his father's mind.

He purposefully shut everything down after less than three seconds, aware that it had been enough to disrupt whatever thought his father had been forming while it was over before his jailor had time to react in any way other than shock.

He did it three more times before his father lost whatever patience he had left and, without even leaving the meeting room, broke his player with the Force.

'Twelve to one for me' Luke smiled smuggly as he eyed the short-circuiting remains of the device.

Boy, did Vader have a temper, he then thought before he considered how '_else_' he could push it further.

He decided that he could make his own music.

Thus, careful to hide his presence from Vader's senses while he resumed spying on him, he allowed the Sith to think that he had won, and then when another very important discussion took place, he sang as loudly as he could through their family '_bond_'.

Because of the genetic nature of their Force-bond, Vader couldn't block him out anymore than Luke could, and the Jedi intended to milk that advantage for all its worth.

Two such assaults later and Vader was thoroughly fed up with his invasions; he reached out, also through their bond, and Knocked him out without so much as a warning.

Luke didn't mind and even welcomed the impromptu nap.

* * *

At the end of the day, after knocking his son out yet again '_and_' shooting him with a sedative to keep him under for a while, Vader sat on the unkempt bed where the boy was laying in a foetal position, hugging his pillow as if he had taken the position before invading his mind for the last time.

The Jedi knew that he held the high ground, Vader realized and sighed in resignation. His son had not only inherited his Force talent, but his resourcefulness as well. He supposed that growing up on Tatooine had nurtured that side of him just as it had Anakin's.

It was just Vader's luck that this positive personality trait was presently used against him instead of helping him defeat the Emperor.

He briefly closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts as best as he could.

His son's relentless and undetectable attacks had left him spent of much of his energies, and it was only his love for the boy that had stopped him from physically lashing out in burning anger.

So far, he had always found one flunky or another to assuage his violent instincts before dealing directly with Luke, but even that technique was beginning to lose its efficiency. Indeed, by the end of the day, he had needed to strangle five unfortunate troopers before he had felt able to return in Luke's physical presence without risking the child's safety.

It was a sad record, even for him. Normally, he was recovered after two or three killings, but Luke's attacks were not only driving him insane with frustration, they were also sapping every ounce of self-control he had had to develop under Palpatine's harsh tutelage.

Compounded with his restless nights wondering about the boy, and his daily duties that had already been more than demanding, the past week was really beginning to take its toll on him.

He had tried everything he could think of to control the boy, but nothing fazed him. Luke simply was an unwilling guest that wanted nothing from him while Vader had everything to gain from the boy.

If he still had hair, Vader admitted that he would be pulling them off of his head right about now. What could he do to earn his son's cooperation? What hadn't he tried that would work where even the promise of ruling the galaxy as he saw fit didn't?

The only option that occurred to him was to manipulate Luke's mind... but at the same time, he didn't want to completely alter his son. After all, after reading hundreds of reports about the boy from spies that he had set up in the Rebellion, he had come to like and even look forward to experiencing his son's spontaneity, his good-hearted penchant, and his hopeful attitude about the future.

Furthermore, no matter how problematic it was proving to him, he didn't want Luke to loose his free and defiant mind, which would always make him his own man instead of anyone's lackey the way his old man had always been. In this aspect, he was Padme's son and he intended to protect that with his life if need be.

In the end, the only aspect of Luke's personality that needed to change was his adamant opposition to his father's the Dark Side. Of course, he conceded to himself, it wouldn't be easy to modify, but it could be done. He even knew how, having been a recipient of that technique on two occasions.

But he would not set his plan in motion just yet. First, he 'had' to know more about his son's true self so that he could figure how he should proceed with his new strategy.

Besides, now that Luke was asleep for the duration of the night, he was going to get some much needed rest himself.

He took a last look at the sleeping boy, who Felt so very different in the Force than the image he was trying to project when awake. The Luke he wished to know and protect was the true Luke he knew from both reports and his bond with the Jedi; it was time to bring him back to the surface and eradicate the façade that he had constructed to resist him.

Standing back to his prosthesis feet, Vader gazed around and shook his head yet again at the dirty state of his quarters. He had to give credits to the boy for pulling a convincing act.

Now, he could truly relate with his officers who complained about their troublesome teenagers.

* * *

At first, Luke's sleep was nothing but a blank and dark moment which he wasn't even aware of, but gradually, images began to take shape in his mind's eye.

"Luke?" a familiar voice called and Luke felt his heart clench when he identified the owner of the voice.

"Aunt Beru?" he said- and stopped in stupefaction as he saw an image of himself, but as a small toddler, running toward the crouching young woman who now held her arms open for him.

"There you are, you little rascal," she smiled and ruffled his short blond hair before she hugged him and stood to her feet, carrying him in her arms. "You know how your uncle worries when we can't see you nearby. Do you want to go to Anchorhead today?" she asked even as she made her way toward the stairs that would lead toward the waiting Owen – a much younger Owen Lars than Luke had last known.

"Fly?" the three-year-old Luke asked, his eyes bright with hopes and joy.

"Yes, fly!" Beru nuzzled her nose against his and Luke giggled before he repeated the gesture in her direction.

"But not from the piloting seat until you're at least sixteen," Owen grumbled while he gave a warning gaze at his wife. "You're such a bad influence on him, don't give him bad ideas already."

"Oh, shush, Owen," Beru reprimanded him. "He's his father's boy and you know it. I'm pretty sure that, whether you want to or not, you'll have to change your plans. Better prepare yourself for it while you still can."

"Fly!" Luke exclaimed again and, extending a hand toward the homestead, Called his fighter toy to his hand.

Both his aunt and uncle stared at him in disbelief and concern while he simply smiled, exposing his bright teeth in happiness.

"Luke, no!" Owen then shouted angrily, yet Luke – the adult – could see that he was more afraid than upset.

The toddler, though, didn't notice the subtlety and whimpered in shock even as tears formed in his eyes. He also dropped his toy, which turned his shock into cries of sadness and fear.

"Owen," Beru warned her husband before she crouched down, setting Luke back on his feet while she retrieved his fallen toy and gave it back to him. "Luke, honey," she consoled him gently, "you know that it's dangerous to bring things to your hands. If you want them, you have to walk to them, or else ask me or your uncle for them."

"But…" the child sobbed while she gently brushed tears from his small cheeks, "but it fun. Not bad."

The woman threw a sorrowful gaze at her concerned husband before she refocused her attention on the small child. She took his small hands in hers and made him look at her in the eyes. "Sometimes, fun '_is_' bad, Luke. This," she said, imitating Luke's hand gesture, "is bad. Promise me you won't do it again, please?"

Young Luke stared up at his frowning uncle, and then at his worried aunt, and then nodded slowly, looking down at his toy. "Okay… pwomise."

Beru comforted him some more, hugging him tightly, and then the three of them resumed making their way toward the garage and the family speeder.

While he watched the scene morph into another one, Luke subconsciously reflected that he hadn't known about that '_other_' incident before.

* * *

In the real world, Vader sat besides his dreaming son, whom he was keeping under a sleeping veil for the moment. His left hand was resting against Luke's left temple, making it easier for him to trigger his son's memories in a logical format.

Thus, for as long as his comlink didn't interrupt him, he remained frozen besides his son, watching with interest as Luke dreamt about key moments in his childhood. Since he didn't want to make the boy suspicious about his dreams, he was careful to allow other, more illogical dreams to seep through, and he also refrained from trying to see everything all at once.

Still, he found out that, even though Luke hadn't been with his parents, his son had been loved by his step-brother and his wife; Luke had just failed, as a frustrated teenager, to understand his uncle's gruffer approach as anything but criticism and constant restrictions.

Luke was also a great mechanic, if a little less of a wizard than his father, and he definitely was a natural pilot. Although his son had been older than him when he had first sat behind the controls, Luke had still been a young speeder pilot when at eleven, his uncle had finally relented and allowed him to make errands to Anchorhead while he remained at the farm to work on the vaporators.

Then, at fifteen, Luke had gathered all the funds necessary to buy a second-hand T-16 skyhopper and he had begun to race down Beggar's Canyon.

From that moment, the situation, which had always been uneasy between Luke and his uncle, had become downright tensed and even explosive as their two very different personalities had clashed more often than not.

While he witnessed snippets of his son's less pleasant years as an older teenager and how he hadn't belonged anywhere he went, Vader truly wished that he had been there for him.

Undeniably, '_he_' would have completely understood his son's yearning for space travels and for doing more with his life. He would have been there to guide him down his path in a gradual and safe way so that Luke wouldn't have put his life in danger like he did whenever he raced down those cursed Tatooine canyons, chasing pointless womprats. With him present, Luke would certainly have been trained and ready if he ever had to rescue a princess from a space station and he wouldn't have bumbled his way through any of his subsequent adventures, avoiding death by a hair or even less.

Still, his son had made it alive so far, and he had done so '_without_' a father to overprotect him.

It was one of the ways that he could break through the boy, he realized. He had to give him his space.

Careful not to jar his son awake, he slowly withdrew from his unconscious and reintegrated his complete senses. Then, more than reluctantly, he stood up and left Luke's room to visit the bridge.

It wasn't long afterward that he Felt the boy stir awake and look around for new inspiration.

Unlike the previous days, though, the boy felt less acerb and more tempered.

Apparently, seeing flashbacks of his youth and his guardians on Tatooine had had a calming effect on him, something that even Vader hadn't expected.

He welcomed the unplanned side-effects.

* * *

Throughout the next days, Vader repeated his morning secret visits in his son's room and watched more of his life through the boy's Force-awakened dreams.

The more he saw the vivacious child that he had been, and the naïve teenager that only sought to belong until he could leave this hellhole of a planet; the more he saw how the youth kept yearning for space while he was reluctantly drawn further and further into his uncle's life of farm chores, and the more Vader loved his son and yearned for his acceptation of their relationship.

He also saw how much like his mother the boy was and the memories he awoke in Vader made him even more adamant than ever to protect and cherish the only part he had left of her, the part that he had also thought dead until three years ago.

So far, he had mostly seen what he had given the boy – his looks, his powers, his stubbornness, his cleverness, and his mechanical and flying skills, but now, he could also see how Luke more than carried Padme's legacy as well. The boy had her gentleness, her selfless and kind soul, and her resolve to fight injustice and unfairness to the end if he had to.

He truly was Padme's son, and if Vader failed to kill Palpatine and that Luke fell into the Sith's claws, the tyrant would kill this side of his son just as surely as he had killed his mother.

Granted, Vader had been the one to do the unforgivable deed, but if he hadn't believed everything Palpatine had whispered in his ear and had instead listened to her, he wouldn't have given into rage and use it against her.

It was all Palpatine's fault.

He was watching a memory from Luke's time on Hoth, when he had shared a friendship moment with Solo, the princess and the Wookiee, when he realized that he had now seen most of what he had wondered about.

However, even though he knew his son better, it didn't bring them closer. Luke was still resentful about his circumstances and had fallen back into his more silent and glum mode.

Worst, the sight of Vader's armor always triggered memories of their time on Balti, which was '_really_' not helping them to bridge the gap between father and son.

He then heard his son tell his friends how much he wished he had known his father, the Jedi hero-with-no-fear, and a new idea came to him.

Before he could implement it, however, his comlink went off, drawing him back to his imperial world.

* * *

For the fourth morning in a row, Luke awoke with a mild headache. He reflected that his unusual behavior was beginning to take its toll on him, unless it was the remaining alcohol from the beer stain that still sat at the foot of his bed.

Groaning in annoyance, he rolled on his back and, bringing his hands to his forehead, rubbed it gently while he gazed up at the gray ceiling. Han… He hadn't thought about his missing friend in quite a while, but after dreaming of him and Leia on Hoth, his friend was suddenly foremost on his mind, as was Leia's safety and happiness.

Had they managed to rescue him by now? Had his '_clone_' been up to the task without endangering Leia? Or was his doppleganger, instead, interfering with their rescue plan, stopping the Rebels from saving Han?

Could he do anything to help them? Even indirectly? Could he, perhaps, ask Vader for information about his friend's whereabouts?

No, he objected instantly even as he pulled his hands away, bunching them into fists while he sat up in frustration. It was always the same fight, he sighed in resignation. It never changed and he would always resist, and yet… the longer he was locked in that cell, the more he was curious about who Vader had truly been before he had become Vader.

Who had Anakin Skywalker, his father, really been? The few news clips that he had found once had all hailed him for his heroics and his boldness. However, from what he garnered from his unwilling exchanges with Vader, the man didn't care for celebrity in any way. Luke even believed him when he said that, if it weren't for Palpatine's orders, he would never care about the press that was literally on the hunt for any new snippet or comment that it could obtain from him.

In that, at least, he recognized himself as he, too, didn't like the attention that his hero status generated. Then, if they knew who he '_really_' was, they would turn tail and never look back; they would even give him the boot from the Alliance and warn him never to come back.

That was, if he could ever escape his actual prison, of course.

And what about the clone, he found himself wondering once again. If he was a perfect copy of him like Vader claimed, then was he able to keep his secret from being discovered? Or was it also too much for him and he felt about ready to crack open from the pressure inside his skull at the myriad of thoughts and doubts that bounced around and collided in there whenever he remembered Bespin?

Would Leia ever figure out that it wasn't him? That something worse than Bespin had been done to him? Surely, if Han were freed, he would instantly see through the deceit. After all, his smuggler friend had an eye not only for the turncoats, but also for the spies that sometimes managed to infiltrate their bases. The smuggler simply had an instinct, or was it merely experience gained from a life spent on the fringe of the law?

How he missed him…

"Awww, come on, Kid. Get up and fight already," Luke quipped in his best Han imitation, imagining what the older man would say if he were with him right now.

Right, he smiled wanly, another day, another battle. Such was his life.

He was also growing tired of it, but then, that was Vader's strategy, wasn't it? To leave him in that cell for so long that he'd eventually grow sick of it and would prefer to collaborate and get out of it than stay another second in it.

Well, he hadn't said his last word, he resolved and pushed himself off the bed.

It had only been a month so far, albeit a very long, very irritating month.

The second round was on now.

* * *

However, if the Jedi had changed tactic when he had understood that he couldn't fight if he were constantly unconscious, so had Vader understood that imposing himself on his son was not helping them mend bridges.

As a result, he stopped showing up every day in his room.

Instead, he let him be, returning only to deliver a new music player to replace the one that he had destroyed. Even then, though, he didn't say anything, didn't try to open a conversation like he had all the other times before. He just nodded in acknowledgment of his presence, and then left just as quickly as he had entered.

This change of attitude confused the young man while making it harder for him to fight against a threat that wasn't really there anymore.

Of course, Vader had still tortured him in every possible way, he was still holding him against his will and he had made sure that no one would even know that he was missing. If only for that, Luke remained resentful toward the Sith Lord.

However, in every other aspect of his initial reasons for defiance, Vader was turning into something, perhaps even _someone_, that Luke hadn't thought possible even a week ago, let alone someone that would, somehow, awake his morbid curiosity despite his best efforts to remain indifferent.

But what did it mean, he wondered while he sat in the self-comforting chair of his desk and gazed at the hyperspace patterns outside.

He was once again barefoot and fresh-out of an hours-long shower. He had propped one foot up on the window sill and was absentmindedly shifting the rotating chair from left to right with his other foot. He was also leaning his head to the side and on his left hand while the rest of his arm was propped on the armrest. Finally, his right hand, for lack of anything else to do, was hanging from the right armrest and his artificial fingers were twirling a plastic stylus in a way that reminded him of his lightsaber drills, if only with his digits.

Naturally, he thought onward, all those changes were only yet another way that Vader had found to twist him to his side. Yet, Luke had to concede that it was rather cunning of him since not seeing him as often as usual had led him to dramatically calm down before he had finally resumed behaving more like himself.

The bratty act had only worked for so long, and the Dark Lord of the Sith had weathered the storm even if he had lost his temper in the end, and Luke was left out of ideas to push him anew.

He could only resume not giving him the time of day, and bear it up for as long as necessary.

Besides, there was always the possibility that the Sith was merely holding himself back to avoid – as he claimed – hurting him again, his precious '_son_'.

He sneered openly at that thought.

Who had ever heard of a caring Sith?

But then, who had ever heard of a married Jedi? He reminded himself.

From what he had been told by Yoda, Jedi didn't marry or have children. The legacy of the Force was left to its will, as it would be once again after Palpatine and Vader were defeated. Obviously, Anakin Skywalker had not abided by that rule… or the one that warned him away from anger, fear and aggression for that matter.

Still, what _other_ rule had he broken? He mused, intrigued despite himself. And if he had ignored rules as a Jedi, was it also possible that he did the same as a Sith?

His father most certainly didn't obey his superior in everything, he thought next as he remembered both Vader's traitorous offer on Bespin and his current actions to hide him from Palpatine despite his standing orders to bring him in.

What was going on in that helmeted head of his? And why was the Force not Warning him away whenever Vader tried to open the dialogue with him?

If not for his personal reasons to bear a grudge against the Sith Lord, Luke would open up a little now, but then, what would happen..?

If he didn't rebel anymore, what would happen?

Vader had said on more than one occasion that he wanted to eliminate the Emperor so it would undoubtedly be the first thing on his agenda after he allied his _powerful_ son. But then? Luke wondered uneasily. Would they rule the galaxy as father and son? With Vader in the Emperor's role and Luke in Vader's? He shuddered at the thought.

Or... he pondered some more, would it be different? Would Anakin influence Vader more once he was freed of his master?

Could Luke help draw his father out further than he already was?

Could he actually fight for the Alliance, but from within the Empire until there was only a New Republic throughout the stars?

So many questions, he huffed next. So many possibilities… and such a very expensive price if he were wrong…

The ship had time to leave hyperspace, complete an orbit around a brown and red planet, and then return in hyperspace before Luke's rumbling stomach finally forced him to abandon his observation seat.

Even then, he had yet to find his answer.

* * *

That night, Luke returned to his older teenage years – at least in his dreams.

He was yet again fixing the family's speeder, using what little they had that could help him.

"It's not as if spit and sand will do it," he grumbled to himself while he strained to free the rusty convector from its compartment so that he could reach the problematic piece. "Honestly, he's expecting me to manage a miracle this time."

"Doesn't he always?" an unfamiliar male voice inquired, startling him so much that Luke hit his head under the raised hood when he recoiled in shock.

"Ouch!" Luke yelped and brought his greasy hand to his head to rub away the pain even as he carefully leaned sideways to see the newcomer.

"Let me see if I can help," the stranger smiled reassuringly at him before he also bent down over the engine.

By then, Luke had recovered from his bump on the head, but not from his shock about the stranger. Now why did he look so strangely familiar? Tall and strong in stature, the man had sun-bleached blond hair and startling blue eyes -

"Hand me that hydrospanner, will you, Son?" he requested, raising his head just long enough to indicatet the tool bench with a nod of his head.

Luke – who suddenly wasn't a teenager anymore but his adult and Jedi self – remained rooted to the spot, gaping in confusion and disbelief at the stranger.

He '_really_' felt familiar, he mused warily.

Why did he feel like he had met him before… Like he should recognize him?

The hydrospanner then flew by itself toward the stranger's outstretched hand and Luke backpedaled even as he understood – almost too late – what was going on-

What '_had_' been going on for a while -

He reflexively Reached out toward the suddenly black-clad tall man and Shoved him away and out of his head.

He then jerked awake and away from Vader's sitting form while the Dark Lord realized that he had been caught.

He then sat up and glared angrily at his captor. "Get out of my head! How dare you? You..."

* * *

While Luke's rapidity to identify him had surprised Vader, his ensuing reaction had also happened with much more strength than he thought the boy capable of.

Thus, Vader had to focus a moment and reorient himself – a moment that his son used to slither away from his physical touch.

"Luke, wait," he pleaded even as he brought his left hand to his head when he felt the beginning of a headache. "This is not what you think it is."

"Oh no?" the youth argued, resentful. "You're trying to manipulate me in my sleep. You made me reveal all my secrets to you, and now you'll use my weaknesses against me. You're just as insidious as you ever were, Dark Lord of the Sith."

"No," Vader defended himself. "That is not my goal. Please, let me explain this time."

Although he could feel how upset his son was at his revealed intrusion, he could also feel how the Jedi was forcing himself to calm down so as to not give into his anger like his father did.

"I just wanted to know you, Son. You wouldn't talk to me, so I thought you could show me."

"You had no right," Luke began- and then fell silent at Vader's raised index that meant that he wasn't finished.

"I wanted to know what I had missed with you so that I could imagine how it could have been… if I had been there, with you."

"So that you could twist me to your side without my knowledge," Luke spat, defiant.

"No. I only wanted to…" he paused, wondering what he could say that would possibly justify his invasion of his son's dreams and memories. Granted, he had hoped that showing who he used to be would help them and he had actually looked forward to being a father in at least his son's dreams. However, now that he was confronted about his actions by said son, he was rapidly growing aware of how selfish and manipulative he truly was.

No good father would act the way he just did.

"I'm sorry," he finally said and stood up. "I shouldn't have. I…" 'Should have been there with you, dammit!' he wanted to explode, but didn't for fear that Luke would recoil further in distrust or even think that he was trying to once again twist him to his views. "It won't happen again, I promise," he concluded in a surprisingly calm voice while he gazed into the confused yet glaring eyes of his son.

He then stood up and walked toward the exit, rebuking himself for ever thinking that using Sidious' dream trick on his son would have any more positive results than his own experience had.

"Wait!.." Luke called unexpectedly.

Vader halted in his steps but didn't turn around.

"Was… was that how you really looked like… before?" the youth inquired uncertainly.

"Yes."He slowly turned back toward the now standing boy and noticed how his blue eyes had crinkled in concern.

"What happened then? Why are you-"

"A duel with Kenobi," Vader answered briefly, simply, and then another, far less disrespectful strategy belatedly occurred to him. "Do you still have your holonet pad?"

The Jedi nodded slowly.

"It carries my personal code. If you search for my files, you will find them… all of them, pre and imperial era. You will also find your mother's."

"My…" Luke stuttered even as Vader quickly turned heels and left the scene of his latest fiasco.

Dumb, stupid, arrogant _fool_! He berated himself. Anything that wasn't done with the boy's agreement would always backfire, he should understand that by now.

Of course, bringing back Luke's memories of who he truly was had helped calm down the youth and restore some peace in his daily routine. However, he should have stopped there.

He shouldn't, he '_really_' shouldn't have tried to infiltrate the boy's past.

Now, being caught would only set them back in their non-existent relationship.

Force, he should have known better than that by now, but apparently, he still had much to learn in the area of wisdom. He dimly wondered if he ever would, seeing as he was already forty-four and still as brash and impatient as ever.

Feeling more than a little irritated, he stormed out of his quarters and headed for the bridge.

He could always find incompetents there that he could punish in order to vent his frustration.

* * *

After Vader left, Luke fell back on his mattress and rubbed his forehead with both of his hands, groaning at the pain that rammed and bounced back and forth against his temples.

This was worse than ever.

He shouldn't have shoved Vader so fast out of his mind; the connection had been interrupted too abruptly for his brain to adjust to the loss of external contact. Not that it was natural for it, he mused next, but it had obviously adapted to it while Vader had been there, and now it was trying to adapt to the return to normal.

Resisting the strong temptation to whine about the situation, Luke chose instead to focus his mind on his situation and called on the Force to soothe his head. Although he hadn't practiced that kind of skill while with Yoda, his Jedi master had explained it in enough details that, if need be, he would be able to give it a try.

'Do, or do not, there is no try,' Luke reminded himself almost instantaneously.

'Right,' he agreed with himself. So do, it was.

It took a while for him to completely grasp the nuance between his normal use of the Force and his Healing skills, but the more he trusted his body and how it '_guided_' him toward how to relieve it, the more efficient he grew until he could sit up and barely feel a twinge of pain behind his eyes.

He breathed in relief and finally pondered his latest confrontation with his captor.

So Vader had been badly hurt during a duel with Ben, huh? Hadn't Vader been able to heal himself? Was there a limit to how much they could heal themselves?.. Or was the Light the only source of Healing powers?..

And who had been his father, Anakin Skywalker, before his accident?.. In his dream – or had it been something else like a memory implant or..? Anyway, he had looked well... _kind_ and... and understanding- but that had all been a lie.

Right? He asked himself, his certainty faltering despite his misguivings.

It must have been, he answered himself. It couldn't be true or based on the past... and yet...

He sighed heavily and flopped back on his pillow. Dang, if only he had known Anakin... before...

If only he could find out about who he used to be, but without relying on anything Vader provided...

Luke remained staring at the blank ceiling for long moments afterward, torn between what he refused to believe and what he could 'Feel' was, in fact, the truth.

He just felt so lost and confused, and the only person who could even begin to answer his questions or provide him with sources of information was the last person he wanted to trust or interact with.

Could the Force be more ironic?

He doubted it.

* * *

TBC

Well? How was that? How did you like Luke's changes of attitude? His abuse of the shower ;P? How about Vader's reaction to his bratty son? and Vader's own change of plans? How did you like his attempt to use in a good way the dreams like they were used against him? And where can they go from there? Is there any hope for the two stubborn Skywalker boys?

Have a great week everyone, and remember, reviews are very precious gifts all year long :) Moreover, they are a great incentive for me to be kind to both you and the characters and not leave _them_ hanging like that for too long, can I? :) Poor boys... too stubborn for their own good :)

P.s. : By the way, sorry about the ' ' around the italicized words, but it was either leave them there and post this week, or erase them before posting and not update before another month at least... I am already one month later than I expected to be ready for this update... I figured that updating the stories was more important for you than the ' '. Was I right?

While you enjoy the new updates, I will finish the edition and remove the ' ', don't worry ;P


	5. Chapter 5

Deceit

By Mireille

1999/2013

* * *

_Previously_: After capturing Luke, Vader transferred all of the boy's knowledge and personality into a perfect clone replica of the young Jedi, which he then sent back to the Rebellion while he secretly brought his real son aboard the Executor. There, Luke first tried to escape through starvation and dehydration but Vader intervened. Then, because Vader expected him to behave, Luke did the exact opposite and acted like a bratty teenager for as long as possible. Unable to cope with that side of parenting, Vader changing tactics and, while keeping the boy under a sleep veil, made Luke dream about his past. Once he had finally gotten to know more about his son's past on Tatooine, he tried to present a different side of himself by taking part to the next memory, but as who he used to be and could have been with the boy. Luke instantly caught up on his plan and shoved him out of his mind. After that, Vader understood his stupidity and his unharmed appearance in the boy's dream made Luke curious about his younger father. Vader directed him toward his provided datapad to find all the unaltered information regarding both his past and his mother's.

* * *

Good evening everyone! First of all, thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story's latest post! Your comments really meant a lot to me!

Thanks as well for the favorites and alerts. I still hope to one day hear your thoughts in more details :)

As for the anonymous reviews, thanks as well. Please, don't be shy and sign in next time so that I can answer and thank you properly as soon as possible : )

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Now, as promised in September, here is more of this story as we finally reached one of the special occasions of the year, and what's more special than the Holiday season, huh? However, to get a faster update next time, you know what to do, right? ;P

Yup, you got it ;) You have to hit the button at the bottom of this post and do your reader thing :)

Please, don't hesitate to share your thoughts :D I so love to hear from my readers and find out if they had as much fun with this part as I had writing it :)

* * *

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs to George Lucas and Walt Disney Co. I'm only writing stories for fun.

* * *

Part 5: Past, present and future

It took Luke three long and complete days of further pondering, meditating and just chewing on his thoughts before he finally gave into his insatiable curiosity and began reading about the alleged past of his parents.

At first, he was very wary about anything he happened to find when he searched for files related to his father's real name. However, after an hour or so, he became aware that the Force was actually encouraging him forward and, trusting it like he had learnt to do in dogfights and duels, he opened more files and read onward.

The world he discovered was both like _and_ unlike what he had imagined based on Vader's tales of the past weeks. His mother was also as beautiful as Vader had said she was, but what struck Luke the most about her was how strong-willed and resilient she had been.

Somehow, he had trouble believing that this kind of brave woman would die of a broken heart, and especially right after giving birth to a son like she had.

As for his father, well... Anakin truly was the heroic figure that he had yearned for as a child and teenager. The young Jedi general had been exactly the role-model that he had sought to emulate as a rebel fighter and Jedi Knight, selfless and passionate

However, what set them apart was his father's ambitious character. According to his father's own words in an interview, he had wanted to be the first Jedi to become a master before hitting thirty.

Now that, Luke grimaced in foreknowledge, was not what the Jedi serenity led to; it was as obvious a Sith trait as he had ever seen.

His deduction was confirmed when his father's journal later described his various private meetings with Palpatine. Luke didn't need to read much to understand that, all along, he had been the one pulling his father's strings.

The fiend! Luke gritted his teeth as he realized that the entry he was reading from had been written when his father had been eleven years old.

He had only been a child!.. Little Anakin had just been taken from a nightmare of slavery on Tatooine and trust head first into the Jedi world, where he had always been different because of his unique potential, and Palpatine had further destabilized him! Worse, because Anakin had become the first padawan learner of a barely knighted Obi-Wan, it had been that easier for the Sith to plant in his father's mind seeds of doubt about his young and inexperienced teacher.

Poor Obi-Wan had simply done his best while learning by the seat of his pants, just like little Ani that had been under his wing.

In short, young Anakin had been in a very uneasy and unstable situation and Palpatine had worsened his discomfort by creating unfounded distrust in the Jedi Council that was, unfortunately, wary of Anakin, and then even the pace of his lessons. The evil manipulator had then steadily poisoned the boy's pliable young mind with visions of power, recognition, and so-called peace and justice, and poor clueless and vulnerable Ani had been unable to resist their lure, but then, who wouldn't?..

Still, how could Ben let the child visit the man so often without growing suspicious of his motives? How could the Council possibly allow this very dubious favoritism to go on right under their noses and not intervene? Even without the benefit of knowing the sad outcome, he would have made certain to be with Anakin during those meetings and he would have confronted the chancellor about his interest in that particular child while he had never bothered about any other Jedi apprentice before.

Besides, it was just not moral to leave a child alone with an adult unless there was a really, really good reason for it, and the then chancellor had never had any of those.

The Jedi's indifference and lack of true care toward young Anakin had been just as much instrumental in his father's fall as Palpatine had been.

So what did it leave his father to be responsible for? he wondered with indulgence. Partly brainwashed by the Sith master, distrusted by those he lived with, and denied of ever seeing his mother again, only to be present for her last and tortured breath... Denied of openly living his passionate love for his soulmate...

When the time had come, the extremely powerful youth had been simply and completely helpless to make the right choices, and with his powers now used for the wrong side, he had determined the fate of the galaxy and tipped the balance in favor of the Sith.

Luke had understood that Vader was powerful the moment that he had seen him duelling Ben aboard the Death Star, but he had never, ever considered that he could be that strong in the Force.

Yet, for all his actual strength, his father sounded even more powerful in his accounts of his various exploits during the clone wars. Had his accident weakened him in the Force?

Was it why he still hadn't dethroned Palpatine? Why he needed his help?

While he continued to read his father's war journal, Luke's mind began to consider from a different point of view both the galactic and the personal events that had marked his father's life.

* * *

Two days later, he was still perusing the numerous files that he suddenly had access to.

He had found out that Yoda had not told him everything about the old Jedi order, teaching him only the essentials and truly important principles that would help him in their present circumstances.

He had thus discovered that Yoda had not forged a training bond with him, something that had been essential to a good training back then. He had also never called him _padawan_ or had made him adopt any particular hairstyle.

And a silly one at that, he reflected while he thanked the Force for sparing him that tidbit of nonsense.

His master had also never distinguished the types of Force that he could use, like the Living and the Unifying Force, referring only to it as the Force with its Light and its Dark sides.

As for his lightsaber skills, Yoda hadn't taught him any particular form but rather to simply flow with the Force and follow its guidance. He had needed much physical training so as to be lightfooted, strong and limber enough to actually be able to follow that guidance, but once he had been in excellent shape, that had become as easy as breathing as well as completely second nature to him.

Were those changes in his master's training methods simply due to a lack of time to do it properly? Or was it because the years of exile had led the former grand master to change his perceptions of what being a Jedi truly was about?

In a way, Luke's training seemed limited compared to what Jedi training used to be, yet it was also much more openminded than anything that had been the norm in the old order.

The stilted old order.

Luke felt horrible for this last thought, but somehow, some good appeared to have emerged from the destruction of the old order.

It was truly a horrible thought, he knew, and yet, the Force felt so calm nowadays when compared to the description of how it had felt back then. Furthermore, his experience of it greatly resembled what his father described when he compared himself to other apprentices and Jedi.

Was this a good or a bad thing? Was the calm a result of the almost exclusive number of Force users? Or was it a mark of his personal relationship with the power that made them all one?

Was it because his father was truly the Chosen One and that what had happened had been fated to happen? But how could the Force, which felt anything but cruel and mean, possibly need a monstruous genocide to be balanced once again? And what of Anakin, its alleged Chosen one? Had he truly been doomed to a cruel Sith servitude right from the start? Had it all been pre-ordained: his grandmother's torturous death, his father's fall, his mother's broken heart... His own being an orphan... And if so, then why was _he_ alive? If his father had accomplished his duty as the Chosen one, then why was he around to challenge him anew? Why had he even been trained so as to be able to fight against him and Darth Sidious?

The only possible explanation he could think of was that the real balance had yet to be restored.

That only left the question as to what, exactly, was the fabled Balance... and, if he was now involved in the grander scheme of things, what role was he supposed to play?..

"To simply be yourself, Luke," a familiar voice answered his unspoken question.

The youth turned his head in shock, just in time to see the ghost of his mentor appear, as always, in a halo of blue light.

"Obi-Wan!" He breathed in surprise and relief. "Why didn't you tell me?" He then fired off the first question that came to his mind.

His ghostly friend accepted his resentment without flinching and answered honestly.

Luke listened until he realized something that was too horrible to consider. "You… you wanted me to kill my own father without my knowledge. You and Yoda, you-"

"No," the spirit gently shook his head. "We were only waiting for the right moment to tell you, when you were actually ready to face him."

"So..." Luke frowned, "So you didn't tell me before Bespin because you knew that I would lose?"

"We feared the worst, yes, and we figured that if you found out after being captured, it would give you that much more strength to resist the Sith. Neither of us ever thought that he would beseech you with this secret."

In short, they had done what they thought was best, but they had been wrong.

"You should have told me right after the cave," he criticized his mentors' poor choice. "I would have understood your implicit warnings then and probably not run off to face him when the visions began."

"Yet, without your sacrifice on Bespin, Vader wouldn't have changed to the point that Anakin is actually rising from his mental grave."

"I- Wait, what?" The young Jedi gaped in sudden confusion.

"Something completely unexpected and unforeseen is happening, Luke. You are, slowly but surely, converting Anakin back into his better self. His care and love for you is proving to be the death of Darth Vader."

Luke slowly digested his mentor's words.

"It has always been believed that no one could turn back from the Dark Side, but as you now know, your father never abided by rules other than his own. For once, this could prove to be a blessing for the whole galaxy."

"It could? Why don't you say that it _is_ a blessing? I mean, it is happening-"

"The outcome is still undecided, young one. Even as, I'm sure, you also feel, Anakin struggles against his darker side, Vader fights back with a vengeance. With you, he is undoubtedly Anakin, but outside of this suite, he is, like you already know, worse than ever. He needs your help, Luke."

"My help?"

"He needs to be confronted about his daily wrong decisions and impulses. He needs to be reminded what compassion truly is about, and he needs to have a reason to shun the darkness. You are the only one who can accomplish all that, the only one who will survive doing that."

"I'm not helping the Empire!" The boy objected as the plan became clear to him.

"No, of course not, but you could help defeat Palpatine from the inside of his regime. Without your father, Palpatine is far more vulnerable than he'd like to be. Furthermore, your father is in perfect position to strike against him as he is, after all, second-in-command."

"So... So what you're saying is that I should take my father up on his offer to help him help the Alliance win the war."

"Yes. However, always remember that Vader will fight to keep Anakin smothered. Don't give in to his bullying and bad temper; hold your ground and be as stubborn as you have been so far, only not in regards of working with him anymore. He'll also want to help you complete your training. Anakin is a great teacher and needs to reconnect with his true Jedi self. Trust your feelings to know when he's straying from the Jedi values and all will be well."

Luke was flabbergasted by what Obi-Wan had just told him to attempt.

No, not attempt; do.

Do, or do not, there is no try.

"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" he whined after a moment of pondering.

"Vader's block around your presence was keeping me away but now that he's slowly sliding back toward the Light, I can seep through the cracks of his shield. Believe me," his older friend sighed wearily, "I would have come much sooner if I could have. Now, Luke, do what you do best. Spread the Light and bring it back into the galaxy."

Luke was still slowly nodding in acknowledgement and disbelief of his Jedi mission when the spirit vanished once again.

He continued to stare at the empty space for long moments, wondering how he could proceed to accomplish his own destiny, namely to bring his father back to the Light.

Forever, this time.

TBC

* * *

Well? How was that? How did you like Luke's perception of what truly happened to his father? And his judgment of the old Jedi Order or his comparisons between his own training and what Jedi training used to be? Do you agree or disagree with him? How did you like his surprise visitor? And the message he carried? Any thoughts on what will happen next?

Have a great week everyone, and remember, reviews are very precious gifts and this is the season to be giving :) Moreover, they are a great incentive for me to be kind to both you and the characters and not leave _any of you_ hanging for too long (hint hint ;P)


	6. Chapter 6

Deceit

By Mireille

1999/2013

* * *

_Previously_: After capturing Luke, Vader transferred all of the boy's knowledge and personality into a perfect clone replica of the young Jedi, which he then sent back to the Rebellion while he secretly brought his real son aboard the Executor. There, Luke first tried to escape through starvation and dehydration but Vader intervened. Then, because Vader expected him to behave, Luke did the exact opposite and acted like a bratty teenager for as long as possible. Unable to cope with that side of parenting, Vader changing tactics and, while keeping the boy under a sleep veil, made Luke dream about his past. Once he had finally gotten to know more about his son's past on Tatooine, he tried to present a different side of himself by taking part to the next memory, but as who he used to be and could have been with the boy. Luke instantly caught up on his plan and shoved him out of his mind. After that, Vader understood his stupidity and his unharmed appearance in the boy's dream made Luke curious about his younger father. Vader directed him toward his provided datapad to find all the unaltered information regarding both his past and his mother's. While Luke reconsidered his opinion in light of his new discoveries, Obi-Wan's spirit visited him and enjoined him to collaborate with his father to help him further back to the Light.

* * *

Happy New Year everyone! First of all, thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story's latest post! Your comments really meant a lot to me!

Thanks as well for the favorites and alerts. I still hope to one day hear your thoughts in more details :)

As for the anonymous reviews, thanks as well. Please, don't be shy and sign in next time so that I can answer and thank you properly as soon as possible : )

Christmas, thanks! Glad you liked it :)

Now, just in time for the end of the year, here is more of this story (and everything that I have written so far, too).

After reading it, please, don't be shy and hit the button at the bottom of this post to share your thoughts :D I so love to hear from my readers and find out if they had as much fun with this part as I had writing it :)

* * *

Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belongs to me; everything belongs to George Lucas and Walt Disney Co. I'm only writing stories for fun.

* * *

Part 6: Throwing a hydrospanner in the cogs

While Luke was pondering his few available options, Vader was sitting in his office/study, wondering how he was going to handle the situation that had just arisen.

Luke's clone had just been caught by bounty hunters on Kothlis.

Of course, the first option, which was out of question, was to collect the clone himself. Now that would be problematic, to say the least. Besides, if he didn't want his real son to turn to the Dark Side, he certainly didn't want his equally-strong, resentful and hard-headed clone to turn in his place. After all, who knew what a Dark Side influenced youth of Luke's potential would do and how he would act with him, let alone the rest of the galaxy?

No, the best option was still for him to avoid being in the same room than the clone, which meant allowing him to escape.

However, even if the clone was going to escape, the Dark Lord of the Sith, who had been obsessively hunting him down, could 'not' not show up to collect him. The trick was to time Executor's arrival so that the rebel Jedi will once again manage to be barely a few steps ahead of him.

In the end, it all boiled down to one condition: the clone had to act on his escape within the next ten hours. After that, it would be too late for him to escape right under the Sith's nose, at least in a way that would not draw Palpatine's suspicion.

Yet, he still had to prepare for that eventuality because it was possible that he still ended up collecting the clone from the bounty hunters. If that happened, he would have to make certain that the clone managed to either escape or be rescued as soon as possible. Otherwise, his real son would be at risk of being discovered by Sidious or worse, of someday facing his own dark side.

If only Luke accepted to work with him, he reflected while he brought his gloved hand to his masked forehead, wishing that he could rub away his growing headache. Indeed, if Luke were working with him, they would be able to use a trance to establish contact with the clone's subconscious – the youths' identical brainwaves would allow that – so that they could plant in him the idea of acting right away.

If only...

It had been two days since his last visit with the boy. He had given him time to ponder his words and his own discoveries in the unlocked files that concerned his parents. Vader had understood that imposing himself on the child would not help them like he had first expected.

His only hope left was that learning about who Anakin used to be would make Luke at least able to understand that there was truly more to him than the helmet and cape… and the Sith.

In fact, there was even more of his former self nowadays than there was before. He could feel it – him – in his concerns for his son's safety, as well as in his dwindling ambitions regarding the throne in exchange for simply being the father that he couldn't be before...

In short, he could feel his old self emerge from beyond the grave.

He wasn't certain that he liked it, but at the same time, if it was what was needed in order to establish a true and earnest family bond with his resentful son, then so be it.

Nothing mattered more to him than that boy.

Padme's and Anakin's child.

Not Vader's. Never Vader's.

However, for all his desire to do good by the youth, Vader didn't show any of that goodwill to anybody else, except in rare occasions. He had certainly not shown it to the captains of the Gall enclave that had failed to stop a rebel attack, or the spies that had been found in the Ubiqtorate station of Yaga Minor. Those were still undergoing interrogation, as per his orders.

No, indeed, he was no Anakin Skywalker anymore - except with the boy. With the boy, he couldn't be Vader or he was at risk of hurting him again, and that was something that he had promised himself never to do ever again.

Despite his ruthlessness, even Vader knew when violence and cruelty were not the answer.

Speaking of answers, he needed to check with Luke. He had to see if his son might exceptionally be willing to help him in his present conundrum. If he did, it would save him quite a headache.

Setting his hands on the surface of his desk, he slowly heaved his large frame out of his chair and, with a datapad in hand, he walked toward the door that separated the child's quarters from his own.

Or, rather, he headed toward the invisible door that he knew was there but that would never be apparent to anyone but him - and Luke if he ever collaborated with him.

Integrated into the bulkhead, the finished surface of the wall first had to slide away before the door itself could be accessible. As for the control of the double wall, it was built straight into his suit and activated by him with a touch on a button of his belt. Nothing else could activate the mechanism, not even the Force.

Since the tricked panel of the wall fit exactly where the seals of the surrounding panels ended, nothing seemed amiss, even to the very astute observer.

As for his son's presence, it was, as usual, muted to the point that only Vader felt him, and only when he actually focused on him. Otherwise, it was Luuke who was shining in the Force with both Luke's presence and Luke's immense Force potential.

Still, in spite of the perfection of his adapted plan, he couldn't imagine that he would always have to keep his son cooped up in the secret quarters. There was so much he wanted to share with the boy, so much he wanted to do with him, as father and son, least of all being the elimination of the Sith Lord that had killed Padme and ruined their family life.

Bracing himself for any of the reactions that he had had from the boy so far, he activated the outer door and stepped into the security vestibule that his cuffed son couldn't cross.

He simply knew better than to take _any_ chances with his wily progeny.

One glance around the quiet bedroom confirmed what he already knew: the child was in his living room. Aware that even if he hadn't felt his arrival, his cursed respirator had undoubtedly alerted the boy of his presence, he didn't try to be subtle or discreet and merely stepped into the comfortable sitting room.

Unlike usual, the new music player was silent and the wall display was not tuned in on some channel or another. Instead, it was filled with pictures of Anakin and Padme after their wedding.

The youth turned his head toward him but, to Vader's surprise, didn't express any emotion. "Father," he finally greeted him quietly before he turned back to his study of whatever he had been watching for.

Anakin was caught unprepared by that simple word. Luke had actually acknowledged their relationship not in a demeaning fashion but a normal one, i.e. a sociable and calm fashion.

"Son," he finally returned, doing his best not to reel from the implications of what had just happened. Could it be? Had his son finally accepted him for who he was and used to be?..

He was still pondering how to handle this unexpected overture when the youth turned his blue eyes back toward him and frowned slightly. "What is it?"

Now that truly threw Anakin for a loop and Vader, scurrying for refuge. First, a greeting, and now a concerned inquiry? Who was that boy and what had he done with his rebellious son?

"A situation has arisen," he answered stoically, falling back on his cool-headedness in an effort to retain his composure. "It indirectly concerns your friends." Which was, in a very convoluted way, true. After all, if the clone ended up falling to the Dark Side, then Luke's friends would not be safe anymore.

The boy perched an eyebrow in confusion.

"Your clone has been captured," Vader explained simply. "I need him to escape from both his captors and me."

"So that he doesn't feel _me_ if he's brought onboard?" his son answered, sounding more like himself once again. "Of course, you want him to escape and maintain the charade."

"It's more than that, Son," Anakin explained and sat in the large arm chair beside him to present a less ominous sight to the unexpectedly collaborative child. "I don't want him to fall to the Dark Side anymore than I want you. However, if I capture him, then he heads straight for Coruscant, and from there... A new Sith will arisen, and one of his first tasks will be to eliminate the competition. If I don't survive, then you will also fall into Palpatine's clutches and all this will have been for nothing. As for your friends, they would, of course, not be safe anymore."

"I see," the young Jedi pursed his lips. "So... you need my help to make sure that your position is not challenged by him. Did I get it right?"

"Do you really want to see a dark side you rise to power, Luke? I have been there myself and I can tell you this: you '_really_' don't want to cross that bridge."

The boy tossed his forgotten pad on the couch beside him and crossed his arms over his chest while he slowly leaned back in his seat. "Yes, you would know about that, wouldn't you?.. Just for the sake of argument, what do you want my help for? It's not like I can call the clone and tell him to escape."

"Do you remember the headache that you had when I introduced you to him?" he answered him. Luke grimaced at the memory and Anakin winced in sympathy and regret. "That was in part because of the procedure that you had just undergone, but it was also due to the resonance that formed between the two of you as both of you tapped into the same '_spot_' in the Force at the same time. You are both identical in every aspect, Luke, down to your brainwaves and your usage of the Force. If you concentrate on reaching him, you can establish a contact from anywhere in the galaxy. From there, you could plant a subconscious compulsion in his mind so that he acts now instead of later on a plan of escape."

"And I could also contact him and tell him everything about his origin. Isn't that going to put a hydrospanner in your plan?"

Vader shook his head in negative. "You can only contact his subconscious, sorry to disappoint. Besides, his being revealed as a mere clone would only lead to your own capture by Palpatine. He has agents aboard, ready to act against me at a moment's notice if need be. You wouldn't even have time to think '_escape_' before they got to you. Make no mistake, Son," Anakin stated very seriously, "the current situation is very precarious and not tilting in our favor so far. Palpatine is looking for you so that you can replace me and he has set everything in place to secure you if you ever step onto his invisible web. As for resisting him," he added, interrupting Luke's next argument before it made it past his lips, "if you think that you have been through hell before, you will realize that it was not hell in any way. Sidious has ways to make you do what he wants, ways to manipulate you even if you aren't aware of it, and ways to punish that are indescribably painful."

"Okay, okay, he's dangerous and not to be underestimated, I get it," the boy pouted and closed his eyes for a moment before he looked at the screen once again. "He really fooled everyone back then, didn't he?" he commented sadly.

"Yes, yes he did."

"I don't understand how the Jedi could not see what was happening under their very noses. How could they allow him to be alone with you so many times? Weren't they suspicious of his motives? Didn't they wonder why he seemed to dislike the Jedi so much? Or why he undermined his own political system for that matter. _How_ did it happen?" He finally asked, sitting straight once again before he locked his lively blue eyes on his father.

Anakin could only sigh forlornly as he found himself immersed back into that time – that unhappy/happy time of his life. And her.

"Well?" Luke prompted him in mild challenge.

They didn't have time for this, Vader argued, rearing his helmeted head and butting yet again in their father/son moment. Time was of the essence here.

"How about we make a deal, Son?" Anakin finally offered in conciliation. "You accept to help me save your clone from myself and Palpatine, and I will tell you everything I can to answer your very tricky question."

"Isn't planting ideas in someone's mind a dark side skill?"

"No more so than altering their perception to make it past a check point or to make someone forget something that just happened. What matters is why you do it, and in this case, you would be doing it for your friends and the galaxy at large. There is nothing selfish or greedy about that, I assure you."

* * *

Luke remained thoughtful for a moment further, remembering his conversation with Obi-Wan while weighing the fors and against of helping Vader in that particular instance.

Granted, he didn't want to see another dark Jedi rise to terrorize the galaxy, least of all his own copy. However, working with Vader was easier said than done.

Indeed, the dark-clad man was still too often in his nightmares/memories of his worst times ever, so that whenever he entered his rooms, Luke couldn't help but shudder from extra flashes of those horrible memories. Then, of course, there was the added displeasure of the Sith carrying the emotional stench of all the suffering that he kept causing, suffering that the young Jedi first experienced while it was happening before he was reminded of it again with each new visit. As a result, as long as his father was within his sensing range, Luke couldn't not feel and/or remember the echoes of the pain, fear and despair caused by the Sith lord.

That didn't help him to feel more comfortable with Vader, not even after everything that he had learnt. He did his best to ignore it and see him for the man that he used to be, but it was like trying to gouge out one of his eyes; he couldn't be insensitive to that omnipresent emotional and spiritual agony. Since it always brought back his own memories of being tortured by the Sith, it only kept his fear alive and well entrenched in his heart and soul.

Thus, even if he now knew that what remained of his father truly didn't want him any ill will, he _still_ felt really frightened by Vader whenever he was in the Sith's physical presence. He just didn't show it or even acknowledged it... Until now.

In fact, it had been such a constant since his capture that it was only after Ben's mention of his father's worsening actions that he had begun to analyze what feeling the echoes of all that cruelty really did to him, and it had taken him even longer before he had realized that his hard-headed defiance was not, in fact, born of courage but of his potentially-debilitating dread of the man. If he weren't using his fear to fuel his anger and resentment, thus his resistance, he would be quivering in abject despair...

Those just weren't good conditions to use the Light side of the Force, and he was adamant not to skirt the darkness anymore than he had already despite his father's warning to be careful about it.

"I... I can't," he finally began out loud.

"Luke-"

He raised his finger to indicate that he wasn't finished. "I can't... while you're with me. Just... tell me what I have to do and I'll take care of the rest, once I'm alone." He really had to trample his pride to admit that very personal weakness, but it also felt like the right thing to do, perhaps even like the way that could help his father change back a little more into his old self.

The Dark Lord of the Sith straightened slightly as he pulled back in consideration, and then tilted his head in agreement. "I understand. I hadn't realized... You hide it well."

Even though he hadn't expressed his feelings in explicit words, his father had apparently read right between the lines.

That, or he had simply felt past his meagre shields and seen his true emotions for himself.

"Show no fear," Luke pouted lamely, "that's how I was raised on Tatooine and how the Alliance keeps us fighting even against the odds... It's how I've always dealt with challenges, the only way I know, too."

"It was also the way of the Jedi back then," Anakin agreed quietly. "But not showing it didn't mean that we didn't feel it."

"You can say that again..." He shuddered despite himself before he quashed yet another one of his involuntary spikes of dread. Now that he had grown aware of his psychological process, he couldn't ignore his emotions or lie to himself anymore. He '_had_' to face his fears and vanquish them or at least control them.

The two Force sensitives then gazed at each other for a moment and, for the first time in nearly three months of close interactions, there finally seemed to be a connection of some kind between them, through the fact that they were both afraid. Furthermore, although they dreaded different things, their emotions were still related to one another.

"The trick is not to not feel it, Son," Anakin commented after a moment. "It's to neither act or dwell on it while using the Force. Otherwise, fear is a normal part of life and even Jedi are living beings."

"And the Sith?"

"The Sith are afraid of losing their power, which is why they clutch it to themselves so very desperately and crush anyone that could challenge them. That is why Palpatine wants you so much; he is afraid of you and what you could do as a Jedi against him."

"Which is?"

"To end his reign of tyranny, of course."

"What about you?" Luke asked after he noticed that Vader had carefully excluded himself from his explanation.

"Can't you tell yet?" Vader seemed to frown despite his steel and completely immobile mask. "I'm afraid of losing you the way I lost your mother and your grandmother. I know that I should not fall into this trap again, seeing as how it ended last time, but letting go is not easy."

"Always in motion is the future," Luke answered, quoting his wise master before he had even been aware of doing it.

Vader, who had tilted his head down in shame, looked back up at him in what felt like surprise to the youth. "What did you say?"

"That the future is not determined," Luke explained, falling in a thoughtful mood that allowed him to calm his nerves and feel the guidance of the Force once again, and it was urging him onward. "The future is not written yet, nor set in stone, nor pre-ordained. Instead, we create it with each action that we take."

His father remained silent.

"Look at what happened on Bespin," he explained differently since the Force continued to encourage him in that direction. "I saw Leia and the others in trouble, I rushed there thinking that they would die if I didn't go - and I was utterly afraid for them - and in the end, they still suffered before Leia and Chewie escaped on their own. I did not only fail to help them but I even put their escape at risk when I ended up in trouble and _they_ had to rescue me. Even Yoda couldn't see the future, and I understand now that it's because there's always more than one possibility to consider."

"So?" Vader asked in surprising curiosity, "what do you do?"

"Well, I don't know for sure," he answered, shrugging in humility, "but I think that we can just trust in the Force and let go of our fear and concerns born of what we saw. Personally, ever since Bespin, I've come to the conclusion that we might be able to see the future, but it is not to physically act on the Vision and prevent the foretold events from happening as much as it is to emotionally prepare us so that when the time comes to make a choice, we don't shy away from the difficult choices that will actually change the outcome of what we saw." Only Vader's breathing answered him while he felt his father's growing confusion and interest. Luke understood that the older man needed a concrete example to understand his argument. "In Bespin's case, I now believe that even if I hadn't left master Yoda, my friends would still be free. As for me, I would be on my way to becoming a self-controlled and wiser Jedi Knight, still under the protection of master Yoda, and I would still have the part of my soul that I lost in Cloud City... and my hand."

"Perhaps," Vader commented in the silence, "and perhaps matters would be worse."

Aware of what could be worse than what had already happened, they both remained silent for a moment.

* * *

"So that was what he meant by letting go... Where were you to explain it to me that day?" Anakin asked, bittersweet. "You are already a wise Jedi, Luke, wiser than I ever was. I am proud of you."

"Uh… thanks...," the boy blushed slightly at the unexpected praise. "What did you mean by _that day_? What happened?"

It was Anakin's turn to sigh in humility. "Shortly before I joined Sidious, I went to Yoda about my nightmare regarding your mother's death. Since those about my mother's death had become reality, I didn't want those involving Padme to happen as well. However, I couldn't tell Yoda that my Visions were about my secret wife so I only said that it was about someone I cared deeply about. His answer was that I had to train myself to let go... In my mind, it meant that had to merely accept Padme's death without fighting in any way to prevent it, and I simply couldn't do that... However, if you had been there, or if someone had just clarified this _letting go_ thing for me, I would have understood, just in time, too, that it was my current choices and attitudes that were leading to this Vision." He slowly shook his head, as if in disbelief. "Change your present reactions and what they urge you to do and you change the future... It's so simple and elegant, yet so hard to understand... and to achieve without proper guidance..."

"I bet Palpatine had a hand in those visions, though," Luke commented through gritted teeth.

"No doubt," Vader agreed.

They remained silent for a moment longer. "Now, about the clone? Do you accept to help me?"

Luke sighed quietly. "I'll do it, but only because it's the best for the galaxy. I'm not doing it for you and your personal plans."

Vader raised a hand to wordlessly ward off his argument. "I wouldn't expect you to either. Now, here is what you have to do..."

* * *

Eleven hours later, Luke watched forlornly from his concealed observation bay as the Millenium Falcon streaked out of its meager cover behind a nearby asteroid and, after a brief altercation with TIEs, made the jump to hyperspace and safety.

The clone - and thus his friends and the galaxy - were safe once again.

While he had watched his allies' attempt to escape, he had been sorely tempted to contact his friends and warm them of the false Luke that they were hauling around, but by temporarily setting his cuff to knock him out if it detected any use of the Force from him, his father had made certain that he couldn't do so.

Although Vader's overall intentions appeared more noble than he had first estimated upon waking up in his gilded prison, his Sith father still took all the necessary precautions to keep him right where he put him and nowhere else.

Vader also made certain that he couldn't organize any kind of escape through any form of contact with the rest of the galaxy. Allegedly, that was to keep him safe from the Emperor, but in reality, it merely proved Vader's selfish possessiveness of his '_beloved_' and precious son.

Force, his father was some piece of work! How could his mother ever fall in love with that kind of man?..

He went back in his living room and resumed his study of the past. He could feel that it was where he'd find the key to bringing back his father.

He also had to prepare for his upcoming conversation with Vader, who had promised to answer all of his questions about the past.

Luke was adamant to make the most of this new and peaceful overture about the past.

He called back the files that he had been studying before his father had informed him of their arrival to Kothlis, as well as of the temporary modifications of his cuff's settings.

At least, he hadn't wanted him to unknowingly knock himself out the moment that he reached out to use the Force. That twisted kind of care also confirmed to Luke that the man could still be kind when he chose to.

The trick now was to make that care and kindness extend to more than the flesh of his flesh. How could he do that, though?

He pondered the question throughout the hours that followed.

* * *

Once the clone had completely escaped the sector, it took Vader an extra four hours to wrap up his business on Kothlis. Then, at last, they were en route back to their original destination and he could retire to his quarters, allegedly to meditate on his next move.

In truth, he had a promise to keep with his son, who had several questions about what he had read regarding their family's tragedy.

He also decided that, since his son had shown a great deal of trust toward him in regards to the clone incident and what he had taught him about their possible mental contact, he would also show some measure of trust toward the child; they would speak in his own quarters, thus, for the first time, Luke would see something else than his assigned quarters.

*Son,' he sent once he had put the door's protective screen on standby, *Would you like to join me in my study?"

As he had expected, the offer to leave the only quarters that the boy had seen for months shocked the youth into stunned silence.

Then, a few seconds later, the young man showed up at the door that, up until now, had been a no-go territory for him. Wary of being either played or tested, he hesitantly extended his cuffed right hand toward the open door - and let go of the breath that he had been holding before he uneasily looked up at the approaching figure of the Sith lord.

"Now why would I have invited you outside if I were to knock you out when you crossed the threshold?"

The boy remained silent but his eyes remained locked on him until he finally stepped completely into his large study room/office.

Anakin shrugged at his silent stare. "I may be a monster in several ways, Son, but I'm not a sadist who enjoys causing pain so as to watch others caught in throes of agony."

"Could have fooled me," the youth retorted sarcastically and Vader knew that he was referring to their two previous encounters, one during which he had relentlessly tortured his then unbeknown son.

There was a lot of bad water between them, he reminded himself.

"Even when I didn't know that you were my son, I never took pleasure in hurting you like I did. I was just..."

"Heartless," his resentful son provided while he wrapped his arms around himself and increased the distance between them.

"I was going to say: consummate. I had a goal in mind and would not be distracted from it."

This time, he felt the shudder of revulsion that ran down the youth's back and he decided that a change of topic was in order and fast.

"I was always stubborn and unyielding, Luke. I'm sure that you noticed that in your readings of my files."

"Yeah, but was your bantha headedness born from Anakin's devotion to his goals? Or Vader's growing ambitions even before he was fully realized in the real world?"

Vader couldn't help but wince at his son's astute observation. The little one was, indeed, full of surprises, as he had boldly claimed on Bespin.

"A little of both, I'm afraid," he answered honestly before he walked around his large mahogany desk and sat in his large chair; like the chair of his meditation chamber, it was designed to perfectly fit his peculiar and rather heavy body. "I am glad that you have at least accepted our family bond."

Luke, who had been studying the rows of datacards and old fashioned books that filled one side of the room, turned back toward him and locked his defiant stare on him. "I have accepted that you are Anakin Skywalker, my father and the husband of my mother."

He was tempted to rise back to his feet and loom over the child until he changed his attitude with him, but he then remembered just '_who_' he was dealing with, namely his and Padme's hard-headed and fiercely loyal son, and he held himself in check; he leaned deeper back in his chair while he silently gestured toward a couch that faced his desk. "The man you are referring to is dead, Son."

Luke wordlessly shook his head in negative, and Vader wondered if he was answering his invitation to sit or his statement about his identity.

The answer came fast enough.

"You are once again _he_, Father, at least when we're together. I can feel the conflict in you just as you do, I'm sure."

Darn clever little... He was his mother's son alright, seeing right through to him.

"I, for one," the boy went on, "will never join Vader... but I would gladly make better acquaintances with Anakin. However," he went on, raising a finger to warn him that he was not done yet, "as long as Vader rules you outside of this suite, this can never happen."

"Luke," Vader shook his head while he sighed in mild annoyance, "why don't you take what there still is and be content that we have found each other... And that I'm still able to care at least for you. As you said, I am more like my former self when we're together."

"And I feel the results of what you do when we're not... And the Sith lord is not the man who fathered me. He is not the man that Mother was happy to make a father, let alone the man she fell in love with..."

Vader/Anakin couldn't refute that argument.

"She loved Anakin, the brash, courageous and selfless Jedi Knight who wore his heart on his sleeve. _That_ man is my father, no one else, be them a different person or a different personality in the same body."

Vader couldn't restrain the snort of disgust that escaped him, a sound that didn't come out well through his vocoder. The distorted screech of static startled the child, putting him even more on the defensive than he already was. "I was a fool back then and I learnt that lesson the hard way... I will never make that mistake ever again."

While he dimly noticed his use of the first person whereas he normally refered to his old self as a different person, Luke frowned at him, unhappy about his answer.

Then, the youth thrust back with another argument. "It's not a matter of losing what experience has taught you, Father. It's only a matter of actively choosing to change. Your will is the only obstacle that stands between Vader and Anakin, thus between you and me, and only you can overcome that hurdle. I can't do it for you."

While he had been pleading with him, Luke had stepped closer once again until they were facing each other yet again, their heights almost even with Vader still seated in his chair and Luke standing across his large desk.

Although his son was the captive in the situation, it was Vader who suddenly felt cornered and unable to flee. "And if I don't want to change?" he asked, at a loss of valid argument.

It was Luke's turn to snort in annoyance even as he stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms once more. 'Holding his position in every possible way,' Vader noticed. "Why can't you let go of your ego, Father? It has never brought you anything but hardship and misery, and it now drives me away from you even though I'd love to have my father back... Just not at any cost."

Vader slowly shook his helmeted head. "I can't, Son. The Emperor... There's too much..." He tried again to form a coherent sentence but it was in vain. "It's much more complicated than choosing between the Light and the Dark, or between good and evil."

His stubborn child answered with yet another shake of his head. "No, it's not. You've only forgotten how easy it is to be kind, caring and understanding, but it is already coming back to you because you're like that with me now. You're Anakin right now, like you used to be."

"Because it is the only way that we can ever be at peace when together. You give me no choice but to act like I used to, but believe me, it's not nearly as easy as it might seem."

His shrewd son didn't back down and even walked around the front of the desk until he could stare down at him after Anakin had swivelled his seat to face him.

"What is so difficult about being kind with me? Do you really have to constantly fight the temptation to hurt me for what I'm saying and doing that disagrees with you?"

"No but-"

"Do you have the irrepressible urge to throttle me?"

"No, I- It's different, Luke!" He suddenly snapped and rose back to his feet but after turning away from his ever-knowledgeable son so as to avoid scaring him yet again.

"Why?" The youth tested further from behind the turned chair. "Because I'm your flesh and blood? Because I remind you of Mother?"

"Yes!" He growled/groaned in despair. "Yes, it's because of all of that, and because... Because... " He had never cared about introspection, mostly because he didn't dare face the real monster that he was, but all of a sudden, he had no choice but to face not only his faults, his also his subconscious urges and even his motivations that drove him through life.

"Because of what, Father?" Luke prompted him when he failed to follow up on his answer.

'Because hurting you is like killing her all over again? Because I think of you as a child and I could never hurt a youngling ever again?' He silently and honestly asked himself. "Because," he finally answered out loud, "I can't bear to see you in any kind of pain anymore. It breaks my heart every time, throwing me back to Balti, but with our family secret revealed. Because it puts me back on Bespin when my wounded pride led me to cruelly take your hand... When no good father would ever do that to his child..."

"And you don't have that kind of feeling for anyone else?"

"No other adult," he confirmed, somewhat subdued.

He expected the youth to understand and accept the situation, but it wasn't to be.

Instead, the child was too clairvoyant and wise to let him be now that he had managed to crack his helmet open. "What about what Mother would think if she were still alive? And what would Grandmother do if she saw you ravage the galaxy?"

Anakin had begun to gaze down in shame at the thought of his angels and the horror that they would express if they saw him now -when the small youth pushed the chair aside and stepped closer than he had ever dared outside of a duel and looked up at him, searching his soul with those crystal blue gems of his.

His eyes.

Anakin's eyes.

"And, even if it hasn't mattered to you so far, what about what _I_'feel whenever you act like a cruel Sith Lord with everyone else? You claim that you don't want to hurt me anymore-"

"It's the truth!" Anakin objected vehemently to the implication that he was not being earnest with him.

"- yet you still hurt me not only by keeping me here against my will but by keeping me so close to you that I feel all the fear, the suffering and the death that you spread all around you on a daily basis."

"You- wait, what?" Anakin gaped, horrified by what he was just learning. His son could feel _that_? But-

"I suffer along with them. Every single time that you raise a hand or threaten someone's life, I feel the echo of what your victim suffers. Sometimes, it's very dim, and sometimes, like when you tortured a Barabel earlier today, it was as if I was right besides that agonizing living being, hurting in sympathy for him while feeling his fear and despair." He locked his eyes on his lenses. "That doesn't help our relationship in any way."

Anakin's hands rose and took hold of his son's arms in distress. "Why didn't you say so before?" He asked, suddenly alarmed at the thought of all the suffering that he had spread lately to vent his useless frustration. "Why-"

"I thought that you knew and didn't care. Besides, I did tell you that you were still hurting me by keeping me here."

"By being denied greater freedom, I understand but-"

"_You_ assumed that my comment was limited to my physical freedom, but I also meant in regards to the echoes of your actions through the Force." He slowly pulled away from him, retreating away from his touch and to a more comfortable distance. "I already knew that I would be aware of what went on nearby, but I never thought that I'd feel all those deaths and poor souls that you have tormented one way or another ever since you caught me. I don't know how to block it either, so believe me when I say that I have felt them _all_."

Anakin winced at his lack of comprehension of what he had been putting the boy through since capturing him. "I'd never- I didn't... I'm sorry," he finally hung his head and leaned his weight back against the front of his sturdy desk.

He had really screwed up this time and Luke was right: it had to change.

"That's why I can't bear Vader's presence near me... Why I was always disgusted by you until now. Of course," he added as if in afterthought, "I already despised you for everything that you did to me and my friends, so that sensing thing was just the cherry on top of the sweet ice... I even believed for a while that you were doing it on purpose so as to break me one way or another which is why I never referred to it. I refused to acknowledge it and let you know that it was torturing my soul. I even forced myself not to think about it so that you wouldn't read it in my mind."

Anakin could only shake his head in self-loathing at the depth of the horror that he had unknowingly put the boy through so far.

"I guess we both suck at communication..." Luke concluded for them both, shrugging in a self-deprecating fashion.

"That's an understatement," he agreed forlornly. "And I didn't give you any sign not to think otherwise either..." He fell silent for a moment before he looked up again. "How can I make it up to you, Son? I'd do anything to fix that horrible crime against you."

"Let me go," Luke replied instantly, planting his feet on the thick carpet in a grounding stance while he once again crossed his arms in front of him.

"Except that," Anakin frowned, straightening a little at the sight of his defiant little Jedi. "And it's not because I don't want to let you go free, Son," he quickly defended himself. "Someone definitely wants you dead out there; until I have figured out whom it is, it is truly not safe for you anymore."

The child scowled harder at him but remained silent.

"I can't lose you like I lost Padme, Son. I can't."

"Then at least stop hurting people left and right. As long as you do, I will only ever see you as Darth Vader, my enemy and jailor, and I will not let you in any further."

Vader's first reflex was to object on the grounds that he couldn't command an entire fleet without using fear to keep his subordinates in place, but his mind then went back to the Clone war era and he belatedly remembered that Anakin had not needed fear back then to be a good general.

Granted, his troops had been genetically-modified clones bred for obedience, but still, mutual respect and trust had made their unit one of the most efficient in the whole army.

"Very well," he finally acquiesced. "Unless specifically ordered to, I will refrain from tormenting anyone in any way ever again, you have my word."

The boy pursed his lips at the mentioned exception. "Why not completely? Surely-"

"The Emperor, Son. I can't disobey him without arousing suspicion and that is the least advisable course of action right now."

Luke huffed in frustration.

"Is there anything else you wish of me, Son?" He asked in an attempt to be as understanding as he could and lessen the youth's annoyance while making certain that there was no misunderstanding this time.

"I want to know what's happening to Leia and the others. I want to know how they're faring in their search/rescue for Han, if they need help... If the clone is behaving with them."

Anakin pondered the request for a moment.

Of course, he could easily provide Luke with Intel reports, but he already knew that the boy would not be satisfied with mere information about rebel movements. His son wanted to know the private details of his double's interactions with those he cared about, and the best way to satisfy him would be - "Very well, you may monitor your clone's actions from time to time, but," he stepped closer and warned him meaningfully, "if you attempt any form of communication with the rebels through him, I will rescind that privilege."

While his son grimaced at his restrictions, he still nodded in acceptance as it was the only way that he would know what was happening to his friends.

"Stay in his unconscious to read his memories and I will not intervene to block you."

"Okay, I _got_ that restriction thing," the boy retorted, visibly annoyed by his insistency on that point.

"As for your sensing people's strong emotions, I can teach you how to shield yourself. Being sensitive is not bad in itself, but you can't go on like this or you will never be able to be happy as a Jedi."

Naturally, his son first meant to argue with him, but he seemed to reconsider, his words dying on his lips without ever being uttered. "Jedi? You mean that you would let me remain true to the Light? Even if you become Emperor?"

"I do not wish for you to suffer like I have, Luke, so no, turning you to the Dark Side is no longer part of my plans." He walked back to his large chair and sat back in it, repeating his invitation for his son to sit as well.

This time, the youth accepted and walked over a comfortable arm chair that had deep cushioning.

"I believe I already mentioned that to you, didn't I?"

His son shrugged. "If you did, I didn't believe you and so, didn't keep it in mind."

"Ah, and what makes it different this time?"

"Anakin," Luke answered simply.

Vader refrained from groaning in annoyance at the child's persistence but Anakin was pleased that the boy could tell that he was honest with him.

"Is there anything else you'd like and that I can give you?"

"Not right now, but I'll let know if there's something else."

"Very well. Now, I seem to remember that I made a deal with you. In exchange for your collaboration with the situation on Kothlis, I would answer any and all your questions. It's time for me to honor my part of the deal."

Luke had grown intrigued throughout his explanation and was now straightening from his slight slouch, demonstrating his returning strong interest. "Okay, so how did it happen exactly? How did Palpatine fool everyone, from the Senate to master Yoda?"

Anakin laced his large artificial fingers together and rested his hands on the top of his desk in a relaxed posture. "He used a Sith technique called a mask. I don't know how long he had been using it when I first met him, but it seemed to me that it had been a few decades at least."

"A few _decades_?" His son gaped in disbelief.

"Yes, he was that powerful and skilled already. From what little he told me, I gather that although he was a native of Naboo, he disappeared from circulation during his Sith training, only to return as the Sith master that was going to use the Republic against itself so as to destroy the Jedi and rule the galaxy. It was child's play for him to alter his records so that they fit his chosen lies."

"How long ago was this?"

"He was allegedly in his thirties when he made his debut on the Naboo political stage. Patiently, craftily, he worked and manipulated his way to the office of ambassador so that he was officially sent to Coruscant, and from there, truly poisoned the Senate with the help of his Dark Side meditations and mind altering powers. Add corrupted elements to the picture, and he managed to discredit the last officially elected Chancellor, albeit with Padme's indirect help. After that, it was a slow and gradual descent toward what became the Empire."

"And the Jedi council never felt any of that?" His son gaped in horror.

"Along with shaping the events and people's thoughts around him, his meditations served to create a shroud of darkness that gradually muddled the Force for everyone else. Not even master Yoda could see beyond it. As for Palpatine himself, he was a master deceiver and so, although the council were wary of him as a politician that had found a legal way to remain in office much longer than anyone before, they never suspected that he was the Sith Lord that they were looking for."

"That's... And now that he doesn't have to hide anymore, he doesn't use his mask any longer. I-"

"Actually, even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to use it anymore. His defense with lightning bolts backfired on him, destroying his mask, never to be redone ever again."

Luke nodded slightly, but his frown silently indicated his confusion. "What lightning bolts?" He finally asked, just like Anakin expected.

"His favorite means of attack amongst his Sith arsenal," the older man answer, matter-of-fact. "By focusing his rage into his body, he generates deadly lightning bolts of electricity - or something akin to that at any rate. While it can be intercepted by a lightsaber blade, the only possible parade to that kind of attack is a Force shield. To my knowledge, only master Yoda was ever able of such a feat, and not forever so."

His son had lost some colors throughout the past moments. "Are you... Can you also do that? Generate electric bolts?" He specified quickly.

"No. Cybernetic limbs do not react well to excessive electricity currents. Not that it stops him from using it to chastise me when he deems it necessary."

"Why?" His son inquired, baffled by his last revelation. "You're his right arm and second-in-command-"

"Which is why failure is even less acceptable from my part. Then, of course, there's the Sith tradition that when the apprentice overpowers his master, he kills him. Sidious does everything necessary to keep me in my place and not entertaining any thought of ever being the master. Unlike his predecessors, Sidious won't ever let his rule perish in any way."

"But if he's old, surely he'll die one day or another-"

"He clones himself," Anakin sighed in answer.

"He-what?!" Luke gaped, pushing himself to the edge of his seat in a sign of absolute attention and utter disbelief. "You mean that he is not the original Palpatine?"

"Not in body, but his mind is still the same as when he overtook the Republic, and probably the same as since he became a Sith master."

"But... How?.."

"He transfers his soul - if it can still be called that given its utter darkness - from body to body. His clones are blank slates that need a mind to survive once they are out of incubation. Only very few know that secret because he never exposes himself to public scrutiny until the Dark Side has begun ravaging his new body. His new young appearance, for lack of a better world, only lasts a few weeks. However, if the outside appears shrivelled, he still benefits from the younger body for a few years before it becomes completely ruined by his powers and he simply repeats the transmigrating process."

This time, his son was completely shocked mute.

Anakin could easily relate to his reaction as he had had a similar one when he had finally been included in this best kept secret.

At the time, there had been an urgent situation regarding a Jedi refugee and he had had to report on Byss during one of his master's occasional retreats. At first, he had expected to be kept around for yet another useless social function that Palpatine cherished so much, but he had soon discovered otherwise.

He had been escorted by royal guards all the way to the royal quarters where he had then been made to kneel for hours on end.

Finally, eventually, he had felt the cold black hole of his master's presence and had bowed before raising his head - and seeing the Emperor's greatest secret. Although he had not given him any explanation other than the punishment that would await him if he ever spoke of what he had seen, Vader had understood the situation all the same.

Palpatine had then given him instructions for his upcoming Jedi hunt.

It was only once he had been back aboard his shuttle that Vader had understood that the reason why his master had not contacted him via holonet that time had been in case their communication was hacked somehow and thus, reveal his best-kept secret.

From this day on, Vader had secretly endeavored to learn everything he could about cloning and how the Emperor could use it to change bodies even as he had tried to locate his clone lab.

"His clones are kept deep under his Byss castle. Only droids and he ever access that part of the installation."

"This is..."

"His weakness, Son. If the clones are taken out of the picture, then he can be killed _and_ stay dead. Otherwise, any action against him is pointless."

"The Alliance needs to know about that! They keep looking for ways to wrestle the power away from him, but if what you say is true, then all their efforts are wasted."

"There are too many spies in the Alliance to communicate that kind of sensitive information. One wrong ear or eye catching it and Sidious will come for me. I am the only one who knows about his clones and who has a reason to betray him about that specific information."

"Then what can we do?"

"Wait for the rumours that I initiated to reach the rebel network."

"What rumours?"

"That the Empire is developing a new secret weapon in a top secret underground lab. At least, that's what the decrypted final message will be. I used some of the rebel code phrases that we haven't officially intercepted so as to make it more legit in your intel's eyes."

His son shook his head in disagreement. "This is gonna take forever to reach High command, and even longer for them to act on it." He pouted in annoyance. "I'm gonna be stuck here for at least ten more years."

His sulking child leaned back in his seat, slouching heavily this time.

"Unless you know how to accelerate the process?"

Luke's blue eyes gazed up at this, distrust and longing for freedom battling for dominance in their soulful depths.

Anakin leaned back as well and gave him all the time he needed to make his very important, even life-changing decision.

* * *

TBC

Well? How was that? How did you like the new direction of their relationship? How do you like seeing Luke corner Vader in his office ;P Or the revelation that Luke actually feels the pain of Vader's victims? (did the explanation for its sudden mention make sense to you?) Any thoughts on what will happen next?

Once again, happy new year everyone, and remember, reviews are very precious gifts so what best way is there to finish 2012? :) Moreover, they are a great incentive for me to be kind to both you and the characters and not leave _any of you_ hanging for too long (hint hint ;P)


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